MacComedy

Dropping copy protection also benefits people who want to make eight mix CDs from single playlist.

Apple announced on Tuesday at MacWorld that it would be dropping its Digital Rights Management copy protection on over 8 million songs in iTunes with 10 million songs going DRM-free by the end of the quarter.  This sent shrieks of joy from the 0.3 percent of the population that owns more than five computers.

Previous FairPlay restrictions (the DRM software Apple used with iTunes) only allowed playing a single downloaded song on a maximum of five authorized computers.

“I would listen to songs from iTunes on the computer in my bedroom, my office, the kitchen, the basement and the Mac Mini in my living room,” said Alex Farringsworth III, who owns an iMac, two Mac Minis, two MacBooks, a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro.  “Now I can listen to those songs on the Macs in my bathroom and Audi as well!”

Lifting the restrictions will also allow people to make an unlimited number of ripped CDs from a single playlist.  The previous restriction was seven burned CDs per playlist.

“I don’t really feel comfortable talking to girls in person, so I usually just drop a burned mix CD into the lockers of girls at school before running away,” said 15-year-old high school sophomore Brett Larson.  “Before, I could only burn seven CDs before having to change the playlist.  Now, I can burn as many CDs as I want!  It’s really going to save me time.  Sure, it’s tedious to sit and keep swapping out CDs, but I don’t have much else going on.”

Most people would think being able to play a song on five computers, an unlimited number of iPods and iPhones and burning a playlist onto seven different CDs would be enough freedom.  But those people would be wrong.

“It’s not about it making sense.  It’s about knowing that you can do it if you want to,” said hacker Krunkluv31337.  “I have a Coby MP-C7092 MP3 player sitting in my closet that I’ve never even used because it couldn’t play songs that I downloaded from iTunes.  Now all I have to do is pay an additional 30 cents per song to upgrade my library and I can play them on one of the worst MP3 players ever made.  Awesome.”

Apple also announced iPhone users will be able to download songs from iTunes over their cell phone network, not just WiFi.  You can even download a song over the EDGE network meaning that new, DRM-free Britney Spears song can be yours for just 99 cents and a 17 hour wait.