SEATTLE: Apple Computer Inc. said it moved this week to plug a software hole that allowed its iTunes music download service to be used to share songs over the Internet, striking a sour note with some users.
Earlier this week, Apple released an update to its iTunes music software for its Macintosh computers, which allows subscribers to download songs for 99 cents each.
One feature of iTunes, called Rendezvous music sharing, allows users to share downloaded songs between three Macintosh computers and also allows users to share songs copied from CDs to be shared over the Internet. The update eliminates users' ability to swap songs copied from CDs, but doesn't disable the Rendezvous feature.
The new service has been a hit, with more than three million songs downloaded since the service was released a month ago, Apple says. Song-sharing over the Internet, made famous by Napster, has hurt music sales over the past few years and made record companies reluctant to distribute music online because of fears that their songs will be pirated and distributed freely.
Apple's iTunes service won the support of major record labels because it included protection for downloaded songs, but the CD song swapping feature would allows users to pirate songs using the Rendezvous feature.
A spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the music industry, declined to comment.
Others in the music industry had urged Apple to take steps to eliminate the unauthorized file-sharing.
In a statement, Apple said it was "disappointed" with how users were employing the music-sharing feature.
"We designed it to allow friends and family to easily stream (not copy) their music between computers at home or in a small group setting, and it does this well," an Apple spokeswoman said in a prepared statement. "But some people are taking advantage of it to stream music over the Internet to people they do not even know. This was never the intent."
Subscribers to the iTunes service started receiving notices on their computers from Monday urging them to update their iTunes software. While the upgrade is not mandatory, it shows up on a daily basis, forcing users to reject it until it is downloaded.
Internet discussion groups had been abuzz over iTunes' song-swapping capabilities since earlier this month and on Thursday, complaints were rife from users who were taking advantage of this feature. "I guess the horse is out of the barn now," one online commentator wrote.