ITunes Plus downloads are universally playable

An iTunes Store is convenient, cheap and cool. But its music downloads can come with nagging worries driven by the copy-control software behind the iTunes Store — which generally limits playback to Apple’s iTunes software and iPod music players.

What if the iPod isn’t the best music player two years from now?

What if I get a computer that doesn’t run Windows or Mac OS X?

Recently, Apple began offering “iTunes Plus” songs and music videos, free of usage limits, that work with other companies’ products.

It’s easy to think of ways that an ordinary iTunes purchase could lack the utility of a CD. For example, you may love your iPod, but what about playing iTunes purchases on a Treo or BlackBerry?

The usual remedy for that scenario — burning a song to a CD, then copying that same CD back to a computer — takes time and loses some quality. An iTunes Plus purchase represents a far more elegant solution.

This option does have downsides. ITunes Plus downloads cost a little more and, so far, are an option for only about 300,000 songs out of the more than 5 million carried on the U.S. version of the iTunes Store. The files also occupy about twice as much space as standard downloads.

But a few days of testing iTunes Plus made this clear: Those drawbacks are a small price in exchange for ending the angst of buying music tied to one firm’s products.

Buying iTunes Plus music requires installing the latest version of iTunes, 7.2 (Win 2000 or newer, Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer) and clicking on the “iTunes Plus” link on the iTunes home page.

Individual songs are $1.29 each, 30 cents more than ordinary iTunes downloads, but most albums and music videos cost the same either way.

You can also download iTunes Plus copies of older purchases by clicking “Upgrade My Library” in iTunes. That upgrade costs 30 cents a song, 60 cents for a music video and 30 percent of an album’s original price for a brand-new download of each.

The immediate benefit: you can copy at will.

You could even give a song to a friend. But Plus downloads, like all iTunes purchases, come stamped with the name and e-mail address of your iTunes Store account. So if you share one online, the music industry’s lawyers can tell who you are.

Here’s a better reason not to upload an iTunes Plus song to a file-sharing service: Don’t be a jerk. This is the fairest download option yet.

The second-worst problem with iTunes Plus is the larger size of the files, turning a 1,000-song iPod into a 500-song device.

The worst problem is the scant selection of tracks. All come from one record label, EMI. Apple has invited others to join the venture (many independent labels seem inclined to do so), but none has shown up in iTunes Plus.

That leaves EMI with a substantial advantage over its competitors. EMI’s rivals need to take the hint — soon.