Purchased albums from iTunes should have lyrics! - iPhone 3G

iMerlin · 06-24-2008, 06:27 PM

Why do the albums I buy from iTunes not come with lyrics? To me this is something I get when I buy a cd at the store so shouldnt it be included when I buy it from iTunes? I would love it if it were in the ID3 tags so I didnt have to go and manually download the lyrics to add to all my songs!

macgirl · 06-24-2008, 06:45 PM

that is an excellent point - i agree. i like having the lyrics for my music, especially since they're so easy to view on the iphone/ipod touch.

i have found a nice work-around - if you're on a mac, try the gimmesometune software (it's donationware - i'm not affiliated with them at all) - it will fetch lyrics and artwork for your itunes music...

iMerlin · 06-24-2008, 07:57 PM

Good find for Mac macgirl. Im still on a PC and found a lyric grabber that works with iTunes also. Its a google code called iLyrics and it works pretty well. I would just love to have the lyrics right from the download so I dont even need to worry about using iLyrics.
I mean I have the ability to download songs right to my phone from iTunes (which I use pretty often), wouldnt it be nice if I didnt need to sync the phone two more times to get lyrics on there? (Once to get the purchase onto the PC, then again to get the lyrics back onto the iPhone.)

acosmichippo · 06-24-2008, 10:11 PM

It's not iTunes, becuse they can't legally do it... apparently you do not have the right to have lyrics even though you bought the music.

dturner · 06-24-2008, 10:23 PM

Some albums come with that digital booklet, but it is really lame.

iMerlin · 06-25-2008, 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acosmichippo

It's not iTunes, becuse they can't legally do it... apparently you do not have the right to have lyrics even though you bought the music.

If the lyrics are provided when you purchase the cd in the store, shouldnt that allow anyone to have those lyrics if you "purchase" the album? I mean its not like Im downloading the cd illegally.
I cant imagine that it would be a "rights" issue. I mean the artist give iTunes and Apple permission to distribute the music, album art and like dturner said even the lame digital booklet. Why not lyrics too?

acosmichippo · 06-25-2008, 04:18 AM

logically, you would think so, but legally it just doesn't work like that. It's the same situation as sheet music. It's one more way the big labels are trying to squeeze money out of people... not that anyone is going out to purchase lyrics or sheet music...

psylichon · 06-25-2008, 05:27 AM

Isn't that why the Tunewiki app has to say for legal reasons that only deaf people should use it??? lol... always cracked me up...

iMerlin · 06-25-2008, 03:40 PM

hippo, I still dont get why it would be a legal issue. I am PURCHASING the album usually at the same price as the actual CD, by all rights shouldnt I get anything that comes with the album in store, and that usually includes the liner notes with lyrics. I would think that if artists and record labels can give Apple permission to sell thier songs, that would also include everything the CD has included.

The sheet music point doesnt quite compare IMO. I mean when I buy a CD instore, it never comes with sheet music. But most of the time it does have lyrics (not all the time of course). I would have to go to the music store and get the book to get the music.

I would think this would compare to something like album art. iTunes provides me with album art which is included with an instore purchase. iTunes does a good job of keeping the ID3 tags very uniform and complete. To me, if this is a matter of legal rights, I would think it wouldnt pertain since it is being legally purchased.

And to psylicon, when using TuneWiki you are sharing lyrics with other users. Some of those songs Im sure you didnt purchase. So that would make sense that there is a legal disclaimer. Just my thoughts.

acosmichippo · 06-26-2008, 06:28 PM

I don't agree with them either, and, in fact, don't quite understand the legislation... but i do know that this is the reality of the situation.

i may be wrong, but the lyrics are a different kind of intellectual property (just like sheet music), and are separate from the recorded material. The fact that some albums come with them in the liner notes doesn't seem to be relevant... who knows why...