The spy lurking in Apple's 'DRM-free' music

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 31 May 2007 at 10:23

Apple's so-called 'DRM-free' music tracks are actually embedded with the name and account details of the person who downloaded the track.

The company released a selection of the 'iTunes Plus' albums as part of an iTunes update yesterday. The AAC audio files can be freely moved from PC-to-PC or to any compatible digital music player.

However, PC Pro has found that when you dig into the track information of downloaded songs, the name of the person who bought the song and their email address (or Apple account name) are embedded in each file. That information is retained when you move the song from one computer to another. However, if the song is encoded into a different format - WMA for example - the account information doesn't appear to be transferred.

The obvious conclusion is that Apple is hoping to identify customers who illegally share music on file sharing sites. However, it does raise the possibility that account holders could be held liable if they share music with friends, who then distribute it on file sharing sites without their knowledge.

Despite the so-called DRM-free policy, the iTunes Plus terms and conditions place strict limitations on copying. They state that people are only authorised to 'use the Products on up to five iTunes-authorised devices at any time'.

The terms also state that 'you shall be authorised to burn an audio playlist upto seven times.' However, it seems there are no physical ways to prevent people copying the music as many times as they wish.

Apple promised to comment on this story later today. We'll keep you updated.