Most of the debate around iTunes Match is whether or not the new service legitimizes pirated music. But Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde warns that eager music fans are missing a huge downside to iTunes Match and other cloud music services. It doesn’t make sense to pay Apple, with its closed source system, $25 to have access to music you’ve already downloaded, according to Sunde. Fans could be ceding the future of sharing music to Apple..
When users put music in the iCloud, for example, Apple now controls it. “They might say, you can’t do that, so you have to remove it…they [could] also decide which music you can’t have. That’s what you’re allowing in the future.”
Sunde doesn't single out iTunes, however, but fears the end result of Spotify and all music streaming and music in the cloud services. “In the end if people are dependent enough on the services, there will be no more copies [on their local hard drives],” he told Forbes.
Mike Masnick of Techdirt agrees: "Almost all of the features Apple offers I already have set up through alternative means. And I'm not clear why I should pay Apple $25/year to gain access to the music I already paid for."
