“U2, one of the most popular rock bands in the world, gave a new album for free to half a billion users of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iTunes software,” Crayton Harrison and Tim Higgins report for Bloomberg. “Not cool, some recipients said.”
“‘Who is U2? And why do their songs keep popping up in my iPhone?’ a Twitter user named Natalie said yesterday in one of a number of tweets compiled on Storify. ‘I’ve never bought their music,’ Harrison and Higgins report. “The album giveaway was announced two days ago following Apple’s unveiling of new iPhones and a wearable device called Apple Watch. U2’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ album, featuring 11 songs, is free to active iTunes account holders and those who sign up within five weeks, the company said then. The album began appearing in users’ libraries within a day or so after it was announced.”
“‘Nothing pisses off the audience more than pushing something they don’t want and didn’t ask for to their devices,’ Bob Lefsetz, author of a music industry blog, wrote yesterday. ‘Even if you don’t download the album, it’s sitting there in your purchases, pissing you off,'” Harrison and Higgins report. “While some complained online about the free album, others praised it. ‘Thanks for the #gift what an awesome album, it’s on repeat in my car!!’ said a Twitter user named Jason Steenkamp. Users who had auto-download turned on can delete the unwanted album if they want. It will remain among a list of purchased items, meaning it can be re-downloaded later.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
FWPOS.
Apple, anytime you want to give us stuff for free, as long as we can delete it, go for it!
Related: RollingStone‘s review of U2’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ album.
Related article:
Apple and U2 release ‘Songs of Innocence’ exclusively for iTunes Store customers – September 9, 2014
In related news, some are outraged at being immersed in all this breathable air that they didn’t ask for.
There’s the old gift-horse adage and all, but a free turd is still a turd. Why not offer a free choice?
I too are at a loss as to why people are getting upset… its free you don’t have to download it and its easy to remove if you don’t like it.
Well if this is the biggest problem in your life …Like someone said before can we trade lives?????
or you are whinging because you cant figure out how to delete it from your iPhone there are special phones invented just for you…. and you have a choice Android or Windows Phone…. go there you will find like minded individuals. 😉
I did not request a free chore.
I agree that people have an easy way to deal with this and it is being sensationalized. However, Apple is not Google, Sony, SameShit, and many more who have installed so called free stuff on people’s devices (yes huge difference between spy software and untraceable easily deleted music). I am confident Apple could have designed a way so people to go to iTunes and click and get the album for free. I think Apple is being magnanimous but we live in an environment with every looser out there is spreading FUD.
U2 is not necessarily’s everyone’s cup of tea in a global iTunes market. I happened to enjoy the music so go Apple.
Bottom line: Choice is good it educates people even the poor software settlers learn what it means to be in the quality ecosystem camp.
Apple did design a way for people to go to iTunes and click, they just made it a bit easier by automatically dropping it into purchases ready for people to click on and download.
It seems as though some people got an automatic download, which I didn’t, despite having auto-download enabled, but so what; delete it and get on with your life.
Seems that some people only feel that their life has been properly fulfilled if they’ve had something to whine about on the Internet.
Beats me, for sure.
Bunch of whiners. Oh no, a free song in my iPhone!
I don’t know about everyone else, but when I heard about this, I looked on my iPhone and the whole album was already on it. It may be how my settings are set up, but it downloaded to my phone automatically, I never downloaded it. I clicked play, and it played, period. What bothers me isn’t getting free stuff, it’s that apple can do things on my phone without my knowledge. Can they take my stuff as well as add to it? Can someone use this technology to load a virus on my phone the way Apple loaded this album? Seems like more of a security and privacy issue than a “free stuff” issue.
Its not about the U2 album. Its the info sec issue. icloud serves as remote storage, and you account should only be open to you as far as adding and removing items goes. This just shows iCloud capability to put anything anywhere as long as you are an apple user. How about pulling any info, from anyone anytime?
You know what? I don’t think REAL Apple users are the ones who cried from getting free stuff. The true culprit is Samsung. Samsung has an entire factory of sweatshop workers on their chrome books registering for all kinds of different alias to post fake complaints against Apple.
Wow!
I’ve never seen so many people using a piece of software (iTunes) that have absolute no idea of the Preference Pane???
Reminds me of the AOL crowd that stumbled into usenet 🙂
Apple b dum peps giz muh sum fre rap bust a rym