Originally Posted By: tfabris
But converting to MP3 is still an extra step, which is (a) a pain, (b) another lossy generation, and ... a marginal inconvenience to others.

There are very few players out there that can't play the iTunes Plus (AAC) files and would need to be converted. Unfortunately for this community, the empeg, Karma, and TrekStor players are in the list that can't. I was really hoping support was going to be added for the Karma, due not only to the general direction moving towards MPEG4, but also the growing number of machines that had iTunes and people ripping to AAC without knowing it.

Quote:
buying the Plus track still adds monetary and marketshare support to a system which continues to be rooted firmly in record-company-mandated DRM.

I don't agree with this part being a negative. By buying into the plus tracks over the normal ones (that people must opt in for), it gives Apple the numbers to be able to validate the percentage of buyers wanting DRM free and higher quality music. If it's a high enough percentage, this gives Apple leverage to go to the studios and try to convince them to get rid of DRM.

All that said, I still buy CDs and rip them myself.