You can download them for free. But it’s not that easy.
Early last week, Daft Punk's highly anticipated and fiercely guarded fourth album leaked online.
Source: businessinsider.com
But almost immediately afterward, Daft Punk released an official, high-quality stream of the full album on iTunes. When faced with the option of a low-quality, hard-to-obtain leak, or a legal, full-quality one-click option, the choice is a pretty simple one for most people.
Offering up these full streams in anticipation of the album release date is becoming increasingly common as both a promotional tool and as a battle against leaks. Shortly after Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience was leaked, the album was streaming on iTunes. Same with The National's latest album, Trouble Will Find Me.
It would seem like labels and retailers like iTunes have at last found a way to beat piraters at their own game.
Tech blog 9to5 Mac explains:
By using a tool to monitor HTTP requests (like HTTP Scoop), users can easily find the URL where the stream is hosted and save the full, high quality MP4 to their computer. By simply navigating to the URL where the stream is hosted, you can download the whole album for free.
Apple has not responded to BuzzFeed's requests for comment on the matter.
The Verge also found a loophole on Spotify that allowed users to permanently download songs using a (now-deleted) Chrome extension. (Spotify has also fixed its web player to prevent this kind of thing from happening.)
Source: 9to5mac.com
