Chuck the iPod But Keep iTunes

Finally, after a long wait, iTunes has become DRM-free! What this means is - you can now play your purchased songs on other music players apart from your iPod... Freedom!

Why was DRM implemented in the first place? Here's what Steve Jobs himself has to say:

Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the "big four" music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world's music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices.

Now, for an additional 30 cents per track, you can now replace your iTunes-purchased songs to DRM-free versions. And download new music DRM-free! Although these may still be in AAC format (which isn't as common as the MP3) you won't find it hard to find great music players that support that audio format.

However, there are a lot of people who would love to try other music players that probably suit their style a little bit more but wouldn't want to trade iTunes. This is still possible.

There is available software, like iTunes Agent or iTunes Sync that will help iTunes recognize or work with other music players apart from the iPod. As long as you can make iTunes communicate with your music player, your possibilities for unrestricted sound tripping is endless.

dvdtoipodreview.com/ - DVD to iPod Reviews, Independent Reviews and Ratings of DVD to iPod Software. A simple website where users can post and read customer reviews about iPod media conversion software. Throughout the site you will find free trial downloads, customer reviews and descriptions of all the latest software to convert media to your iPod.

Koop iTunes Gift Cards.