Lee writes:
While I surely would download concerts from somewhere, it wouldn't be from iTunes. I'd rather get a flac or shn (actual cd quality) from a torrent (amazing speeds on a well seeded show). Itunes would be agonizingly slow, poor quality, I expect it might be burdened with annoying copy protection/DRM (What? I paid for something and I can't move it to the device I want when I want? Yuck Fou, Mr. Jobs, yuck fou.) and, just for fun, eff a bunch of apple.
Actually, an album (yeah, I still call 'em that too) downloads fairly quickly from iTunes if you're on high-speed. And didn't Mr. Jobs remove copy protection from all iTunes downloads awhile back and even publish some kind of manifesto about why DRM won't fly? Although I think there are still issues with transferring your tunage to more than one player, as you say.
No, the biggest joke with Zep on iTunes is this: they advertise the ENTIRE catalog of studio output plus all existing compilations for $99. But if anyone thinks that's a sweet deal because the package includes all the studio albums plus SRtS plus BBC plus HTWWW plus, say, "Early Days" and "Latter Days" as a bonus, they should think again. It's not like you're getting two free "albums"--all you're getting with ED and LD is two extra iTunes _playlists_, which simply point to audio files that are already in the main library!
And for $99, you're well on your way to finding the Complete Studio Sessions second-hand on eBay or Amazon. From which you can then rip your own mp3s (_not_ AACs), at a superior encoding rate (say, 320 mbps).
But that's just me. I'm an old-timer. I guess if you're a college student with a 120 gig iPod, the whole point is you don't have to worry about having enough space in your dorm for CDs anymore, so you're happy to pay $99 for the entire Zep catalog from iTunes.
Except, of course, you probably already have it in decent enough quality from a torrent on mininova or piratebay...