First, the facts: Apple finally dropped their iTunes Plus service for EMI tracks, giving users high-quality (256K) AAC encoded files without DRM, so you freaks without iPods can play Apple branded tracks without conversion tools.
The whiny: apparently Apple embeds your full name and e-mail in these files. After further review, ArsTechnica discovered the company does this for all their files, DRM or no. But now you can host these tracks for all the world to borrow, right! Isn't that part of the deal? You can strip out the information by converting the file, which of course defeats the purpose of paying good money for higher quality tracks.
Privacy concerns are one thing, but if Apple continues on their previous policy in a way that might just limit file sharing, well, it's hard to get too amped about it. In somewhat more interesting news, Maximum PC runs a test to see if people can actually tell the difference between normal iTunes files and the new higher bitrate bitties. The quick answer: no, although they don't say which tracks they use for testing. Try listening to Aphex Twin at a low bitrate and get back to me.