Hey Steve, What the F*ck?!

Dear Mr. Jobs,

I have a question for you about iTunes Plus and your new pricing policy regarding said DRM-free music. Recently, you changed the price structure, no longer charging the good people an extra thirty cents to enjoy their music without restrictive Digital Rights Management (DRM) coding, allowing us to spread the joy of Coldplay or Chemical Brothers around and feel the love. The sound quality, by the way, is awesome on the Plus tracks, and I do often dance, backlit, in front of brightly colored backgrounds because of it!

A few of the songs I have in my iTunes library, however, were purchased before iTunes Plus. I intended to upgrade them, but couldn’t really justify repurchasing songs. Even when the repurchase price was the difference in cost between the two file types (thirty cents) I still thought this was too much for something which should be the same price.

And now it is, hurray! And I would upgrade too, save for one cavet:

If I was to buy a DRM-crippled CD…and the alternate DRM-free album was available at the same price, there are very few shops who would *charge me* for the privilege of exchanging the two, yet this is exactly what iTunes and Apple and you, Steve, are doing to me!

Music received for free is not eligible for upgrade….Song upgrades are available for 30 cents –iTunes Plus FAQ

iTunes *still* charges thirty cents per song to upgrade, even though the DRM-free track is the same price as the DRM-crippled track was *and* the fact that you no longer offer Plus tracks in the crippling format for purchase?

WTF, Steve? Did you, or did you not, say that DRM is bad for customers, producers, and artists? On February 6, 2007, did you not say, “If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store… Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly”? How can you charge us a new price for something you believe in wholeheartedly, keeping us locked into something that is bad for consumers because we have to pay thirty cents per song to break free?

“Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat.”
–Steve Jobs, February 6, 2007

Yes, imagine there’s no DRM. It’s easy if you try. Imagine freeing crippled songs. Something something pie. Imagine all the people…yeh, that’s gone on long enough, but still, imagine how wonderful no DRM on any songs ever would be!

So why are you *still* charging me more for the privilege of DRM-free songs when those who are buying the same songs today aren’t? In your memo, you pointed out that the majority of music sales are still via CD, which is inherently DRM-free. If I was to buy a DRM-crippled CD, as I did when Jared Leto and his fruity little band put out a CD that wouldn’t play in any machine I own because of DRM, and the alternate DRM-free album was available at the same price, there are very few, if any, brick and mortar shops who would *charge me* for the privilege of exchanging a crippled product for the same product of the same monetary value, yet this is exactly what iTunes and Apple and you, Steve, are doing to me!

Please excuse me if I feel absolutely screwed in the ass here.

Love always,

–The Wife