I use the word "rent" in a general sense; I could have just as well used the word "licence".
I'm used to the old days when you bought music and it did not come with terms attached. But times are changing as more people forget about the rights they used to have, not to mention future generations who may never know what it is like to "buy" music with no strings attached. See http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/uk/terms...
Note the headings like USAGE TERMS and words like "nontransferable"; this is not your usual "purchase". Imagine seeing those terms on the packaging of a CD.
The reason you see these terms is that you are not "buying" music - you are licensing, or "renting" it. When you "buy" something, normally the seller does tell you how you may or may not use it and require you to enter into a private agreement governing the usage of what you just bought (regardless of the legality of such usage). "Licensing" or "renting" is a different matter, however - you must agree to terms.
A few years ago a story made headlines where a certain celebrity in the US wanted to tranfser his enormous iTunes music collection to his kids, but his lawyers advised him he might not be able to do that given Apple's license terms. He responded by announcing to a journalist that he was considering suing Apple.
As a consumer, I'm not a fan of the idea of restricting content to a particular device or set of devices. I prefer my files (including music files) to be portable. I have choice and I'm not married to Apple by any means.
I'm used to the old days when you bought music and it did not come with terms attached. But times are changing as more people forget about the rights they used to have, not to mention future generations who may never know what it is like to "buy" music with no strings attached. See http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/uk/terms...
Note the headings like USAGE TERMS and words like "nontransferable"; this is not your usual "purchase". Imagine seeing those terms on the packaging of a CD.
The reason you see these terms is that you are not "buying" music - you are licensing, or "renting" it. When you "buy" something, normally the seller does tell you how you may or may not use it and require you to enter into a private agreement governing the usage of what you just bought (regardless of the legality of such usage). "Licensing" or "renting" is a different matter, however - you must agree to terms.
A few years ago a story made headlines where a certain celebrity in the US wanted to tranfser his enormous iTunes music collection to his kids, but his lawyers advised him he might not be able to do that given Apple's license terms. He responded by announcing to a journalist that he was considering suing Apple.
As a consumer, I'm not a fan of the idea of restricting content to a particular device or set of devices. I prefer my files (including music files) to be portable. I have choice and I'm not married to Apple by any means.