[Closed] itunes, what if you want to 'return' the song you just bought?

ha ha ha. you are well funny. if you know what i mean.

Just asking a question. If I may correct your grammer, I believe you meant to write 'you is well funny innit. if you knows what i mean'.

How would they know you're returning the original file you downloaded and haven't kept a copy. Impossible, therefore, ya can't.
Just download a free version of the one you want, content in the knowledge that you have "paid" the artiste (or their estate in this case)

If I may correct your grammer

How would they know you're returning the original file you downloaded and haven't kept a copy. Impossible, therefore, ya can't.

ah, but with i-tunes they will know if you have transferred it anywhere or burnt it to audio cd as they have mean and nasty drm on their files. IIRC you can only burn an itunes download 4 times to audio cd and after that it won't let you. And if you leave it in your ipod the next time you synch it with itunes then it will get picked up.

big fan of itunes as an application, but not of the i-tunes store btw.

so in answer to the OP, I think its worth a try as their 'security' means if you were to 'return' the file then you wouldn't be able to listen to it again.

@juan - fair point! 🙂

For the price of one song I'm not going to lose any sleep about it. However, I can order a CD from Amazon, rip it, copy it etc. and then send it back under a 7 day 'internet purchase' cooling off period. At least I think I can. And if that's true, shouldn't it also apply to iTunes?

The distance selling regulations must surely mean that you can return it. I'd be interested in hearing how you got on.

I agree with Miketually - the distance selling laws SHOULD cover you and it would be interesting to know if anyone has challenged the Mighty Fruit on this.

After all - you did buy something and genuinely didn't get what you expected so you should be allowed to return it.

But iTunes allow you to sample the files (30 seconds worth) before purchase so I would expect that distance selling regs don't apply. The principle of try before you buy has an effect on the whole process I think. I could be talking blox mind.. I've not looked into it that deeply. Interesting thought though.. We sell pdf files of the mag so I think I'll just shuffle off to go look into this a bit more closely 🙂

Actually Mark's point probably clinches it. I hadn't realised I could play a sample. If I had done so, then I'd have realised that it was then live version. Still now I know for next time.

wish I'd known about distance sellng when I signed up for Television X (Over 40s Plumpers Edition).

😉

No, really.

From [url= http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf ]this[/url]

Do downloads of electronic books or music from a website,
or the purchase of ring tones and screen savers for mobile
phones fall within the cancellation exceptions referred
to above?

3.39 We consider that these examples are likely to constitute services,
rather than goods as the consumer does not receive physical goods.
The right to cancel are therefore those that apply to services.

We'll I've used the 'report a problem' option and explained. I'll see how it goes.

On a side note, my sister got broken into and her ipod and mac with all the downloaded music was stolen. The insurance company would not (initially) payout to replace the downloads as they weren't physical CDs. I think Apple was graceous enough to allow her to redownload everything again. And that's not bad service really.

[i]ah, but with i-tunes they will know if you have transferred it anywhere or burnt it to audio cd as they have mean and nasty drm on their files. IIRC you can only burn an itunes download 4 times to audio cd and after that it won't let you. And if you leave it in your ipod the next time you synch it with itunes then it will get picked up.[/i]

They won't know if you still have a copy of a file you've supposedly "returned". You don't have to sync your iPod with iTunes and could use any number of pieces of software to convert the file, removing the drm. The copying/syncing protection is irrelevant.

How about this from the T & Cs:

[i]CANCELLATION POLICY

All sales and rentals (as applicable) are final. You do not have a right to withdraw from a purchase or rental (as applicable) on the iTunes Store once delivery of the Products has started. The iTunes Store service commences immediately when you begin to download Products from the iTunes Store and you will not have a right to cancel your contract once the service commences.

[/i]

and
[i]c. Refund Policy. On occasion, technical problems may delay or prevent delivery of your Product. Your exclusive and sole remedy with respect to Product that is not delivered within a reasonable period will be either replacement of such Product, or refund of the price paid for such Product, as determined by iTunes.[/i]

I think they've covered their arses.

Dez - as long as those T&Cs aren't in contradiction the the distance selling regs - they appear to have it covered

If they are in contradiction - they aren't worth the paper they're not written on.

The distance selling regs came in useful for one of my students last week, when she accidentally bought an £800 TV while she was evaluating a website for her coursework 🙂

iTunes has given me a credit that I can use for my next purchase. Sounds fair to me.

Further point: from April all DRM is being removed from iTunes. FWIW, anyone who criticises Apple over iTunes DRM really isn't paying too much attention to other providers. Nokia's music site is totally unacceptable, all songs you download onto a phone stay there, there is no way to put them onto a computer, burn them to cd, or back them up anywhere. If you lose the phone or upgrade, you have to buy all over again! All the music I download onto my iPhone from iTunes, however, get backed up onto my Mac when I sync it, where I can burn them to a cd, copy onto another external Drive, or iPod...
I don't find that restrictive. Microsoft's music site is almost as bad as Nokias.