iTunes is bunk

[Z000]

It's been bugging me for a long time that iTunes doesn't keep songs in its music store forever. Particularly, U2's Live 8 single with Paul McCartney and Bono singing with Alicia Keys on "Don't Give Up" were only available for a very short time. Those of us who didn't know about them at the time, or didn't have iTunes, or whatever, are out of luck. Even if you don't care about legally owning them, you can find torrent downloads of "Don't Give Up," but the only "Sgt. Pepper" downloads are ripped from the Live 8 DVDs, not the iTunes single. I really wish these songs were still available to me in some legal format.

[Brad]

I think that content disappearing from the store has more to do with the copyright owner than with iTunes.

Sgt. Pepper was still available on 7digital last time I checked, but they've become more strict about which countries they will let you purchase from recently.

[Z000]

Right you are. This restores a little hope. But Sgt. Pepper is, in fact, restricted to UK members.

[Brad]

Try using this link:

http://www.7digital.com/stores/universal/productDetail.aspx?pid=13536&sid=107778&tid=141062

This is the Universal Music UK download store.  It's run by 7digital, but I'm still able to purchase tracks through this portal in the US.

Sgt. Pepper is only available in protected WMA, but you can burn it to CD.

[Scarlet]

It's been bugging me for a long time that iTunes doesn't keep songs in its music store forever. Particularly, U2's Live 8 single with Paul McCartney and Bono singing with Alicia Keys on "Don't Give Up" were only available for a very short time. Those of us who didn't know about them at the time, or didn't have iTunes, or whatever, are out of luck. Even if you don't care about legally owning them, you can find torrent downloads of "Don't Give Up," but the only "Sgt. Pepper" downloads are ripped from the Live 8 DVDs, not the iTunes single. I really wish these songs were still available to me in some legal format.

check your messages

[indementia]

I think 7digital did away with DRM but they might not have with their older stuff.  They send me emails all the time.  I think they switched to the mp3 format.