
Proof that Apple is deleting MP3 files - doctorshady
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2016/05/12/proof_that_apple_music_is_deleting_mp3_files.html
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ivraatiems
iTunes is such a massive cluster of bad design that it's easy for me to
believe this is a bug. It's also easy to say "Apple is smarter than doing
something dumb like this," but then again, Apple made iTunes, and iTunes is a
massive cluster of bad design, so...

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sciencerobot
One could settle this by reproducibly demonstrating the bug with a pirated
mp3.

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zepto
Apple isn't deleting anything. There is a software bug.

This is proof that slate is defaming Apple.

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sintaxi
Can you elaborate? How can you imagine this happening if it isn't deliberate?

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zepto
What possible reason could Apple have for wanting to delete these files?

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blitzd
Locking users into their service would seem like a pretty good reason.

I don't necessarily believe that's what they're doing, or that this is
intentional or malicious.

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zepto
That makes no sense at all. I can't imagine you seriously believe that they
are deleting people's purchased files as a way to lock them in to a service.

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King-Aaron
I don't understand why you don't feel that this is within the realm of
possibility? Ignoring that it's Apple for a moment (because lots of people are
very strongly opinionated about the company), if I had an offline file, and
then wanted to ensure that my user was going to continue using my service and
not take that file somewhere else, I would probably find a way to make that
offline file either call home to base, or be only accessible online. It
happens for a lot of stuff. Real world example? Adobe moving to the creative
cloud.

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zepto
Because the offline file already belonged to the user.

Adobe doesn't forcibly move a user's files into the cloud and delete the
originals.

The fact that you would do this makes sense of why you think Apple would

However, it seems like it would have no effect until a user tried to leave,
and make an already unhappy customer even more displeased. How can this be a
good business decision?

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King-Aaron
You need to remember that audio files (and other copyrighted media) isn't like
the picture of your cat you painted in Photoshop. If the rights holders to
that file request a change - region licenses changing or some such - perhaps
that's the reason for the format change.

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zepto
We're talking about files purchased independently. Rights holders have no more
right to request that they are deleted than they do to send police to take
books off your bookshelves.

