Apple is deleting local music files on people's hard drives

[MR2 Fan]

This blew up on Twitter today:

https://blog.vellumatlanta.com/2016/...-no-seriously/

[Kchrpm]

Man, that's even worse than I was expecting.

[Freude am Fahren]

Holy shit. Fuck Apple. This is part of why I don't have any apple programs on my computer anymore (also they're mostly useless).

And in regards to him losing his own original music. Does Apples terms basically mean you give up rights to any original music you have on your hard drive? That shouldn't be legal...

[thesameguy]

Not rights, just local copies.

[Rare White Ape]

OK this is a big bag of mis-information.

Apple Music is a streaming service like Spotify et-al, that runs through iTunes or an i-device. It can store files locally for offline play. Those files are kept in a separate folder to your normal music library, are DRM-protected, and they'll delete them if you don't keep up the subscription. That's to prevent you from making a giant almost unlimited cache of music for $10 a month then unsubscribing.

iTunes Match (which is what this guy is actually using) is a service which makes songs from your normal library available via "the cloud" so you can listen to your library anywhere on an i-device without having to load it all onto its storage. They way it works is it matches (hence the 'Match' part of the name) songs on your library with songs on Apple's iTunes Store servers (which are different to the Apple Music servers, and have more songs). The kicker, and the big difference, is that it is DRM-free, and it puts anything in your library on your iTunes Store account so that it now becomes equivalent to something you've bought from the store, no matter the source, even after you cancel your subscription. It essentially 'legitimises' anything you've pirated, and adds any songs you've bought from rival services, too.

Where this guy is coming into trouble is that Match can replace song files with files served from the iTunes Store if it can supply them in higher quality, and will upload songs and re-serve them if it can't find a match to what's in his library. All of this is explained right on the iTunes Match splash page, so unless he chose to not read anything before subscribing, he would've seen it.

In a nutshell there's two different services with different functions, this guy has the two of them confused, and he didn't read any of the obvious info on the one he subscribed to.

The only positive thing I can say about his blog post is that he's at least smart enough to backup his personal files before he goes and opens up his library to Apple.

[Blerpa]

^ And all the things RWA explained are the reasons why:

1) I don't use Apple devices.

2) I just keep humongous offline storage of MP3 and FLAC files.

3) iTunes, Match, Spotify, Google Play Music, Tidal can fuck off. Too much of an hassle.

[Rare White Ape]

I'm not afraid to state that I've been sucked into the Apple ecosystem. It's working well for me, and I understand that it may not work so well for others, just like the Android ecosystem wouldn't work so well for me until I make the effort to fully transition.

I've got Apple Music. I did get a 2 year subscription for free, so there is that. At least it has stopped me downloading penis loads of pirated music. But I've not observed the problems that the guy in the blog post has spoken about, so I'm inclined to think that it exploded on Twitter thanks to eager Apple bashers who just want a piece.

[Blerpa]

I've got Apple Music. I did get a 2 year subscription for free, so there is that. At least it has stopped me downloading penis loads of pirated music. But I've not observed the problems that the guy in the blog post has spoken about, so I'm inclined to think that it exploded on Twitter thanks to eager Apple bashers who just want a piece.

That's almost certain, I reckon.
Same as any minimal problem with Windows 10 (so far smooth as silk and butter for me and everyone I know with it) brings up the riders of apocalypse and their "Windows 7 was the best ever. And still is." wailing mantra bombarded all over forums and facebook.

[Tom Servo]

I can't say I'm shocked. I remember the first time I tried to sync one of the first generation iPods...iTunes deleted a ton of stuff off my local hard drive.

Thankfully I had backups, and I've never trusted iTunes since.

[Cam]

I have used iTunes for like ever. I have never had a problem. However, I have never signed up for their service and disabled the store in the options. I currently use an older version and don't plan on updating it. I only use it to play my already existing music and internet radio. I also have backups. (Internal HD and external HD.) I haven't owned a CD or DVD for over ten years. (Actually, I still own one CD, a signed copy of Joe Satriani's Super Colossal.)