phwned

Baaaa, Baaaa

So... I'm getting an iPhone. The gadget siren call has finally gotten to me.

Yesterday, I actually went to the AT&T store, cash in hand, to get one, only to be told they don't have any and that I'd have to Tulsa or OKC to get one.

...

I have to go get some keys from my mom this weekend anyway, and possibly to see Tanner and Katie, so... I can wait two more days, I suppose. I'm just one of those people who, when I've made up my mind, I tend to want to get it done asap. It's not unlike having a splinter.

I know you're riveted, so I'll keep you up to date.

I'm not entirely happy about this proposition, btw. The iPhone is cool as hell. I just wish it wasn't made by Apple.

I loaded up iTunes last night to see what state my library was in after two, almost three years of disuse. I quickly discovered that it's in disarray, and not only that, but that any part of it I bought from the iTunes store is no longer playable in goddamn iTunes.

See, when Cox sold Stillwater to Suddenlink (you're neglected!), we had to change all our email addresses, and in many cases, login IDs to various sites we use. One of those was our iTunes login. You can perhaps see where I'm going with this.

When I tired to listen to some of the old songs I'd bought from the iTunes store, it asked me to authorize my computer to play those songs. The ID it asked me for was the one with cox.net at the end. Well, technically, that ID does not exist, so even if I filled in the proper password, which I did, it would not authorize the computer for that song.

Better still, I went to my account on the apple site, logged in with my current login, and browsed my purchase history, just to see. Every song I have ever bought from iTunes is on there, no matter the account ID. So technically, they know that the login has changed, that it should be associated with the songs, but... too fucking bad.

How fucking retarded is that? DRM is dead and yet I'm still fucked out of all my old music. Worse still, now, not only can I not play my DRM'd music on anything but iTunes, I can't even play it on iTunes.

It's maddening.

This is the case for stealing music or at the very least buying it from someone else. I understand that songs purchased from Apple are no longer DRMed. Are they still AAC? Can you purchase songs from the iTunes store as mp3s? I don't think you can, in which case you're still buying music that has a limited range of usability.

And then there's this... you can only make ringtones for your iPhone out of songs purchased from the iTunes store.

Tell me again why everyone blows Apple and pays extra for the privilege?

The phone is damn cool, and I can end around most the deficiencies of being an Apple product, so I'm going ahead with the plan, but this kind of thing is preposterous.