There's a neat feature in
GTA IV that allows players to identify and purchase any of the songs appearing on the various radio stations of Liberty City. It's called ZiT! and may be accessed at any time through the cellphone in-game, but the MP3 itself is delivered to the user through
Rockstar's Social Club site, thanks to a partnership between Rockstar and Amazon. With the new
The Lost & The Damned expansion set to hit in one week and
update five of the game's radio stations, Rockstar has ended its relationship with Amazon and is instead going with Apple's iTunes
Variety's Cut Scene blog reports.
Apple
recently killed DRM throughout iTunes -- that, plus the number of folks using the service regularly, seems to be the winning combination for Rockstar. The switch will take effect when
The Lost & The Damned releases on February 17.
{ Feb 10th 2009 at 7:28PM } 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Doug @ Feb 10th 2009 7:35PM
I hate itunes, so this isn't good.
Sora @ Feb 10th 2009 7:37PM
What's so bad about it?
Turbo @ Feb 10th 2009 7:48PM
Well, one reason is that if you don't use an Apple product with it, it works like shit. But since computers really don't have much to do with video games like this, I will give reason related to that, like: iTunes is much more expensive, iTunes has buggy ways of encoding their music, and iTune's music is lower quality than Amazon MP3 (after the iTunes music goes through all the encoding, "safety measures", and making sure it only works good on Macs).
Moptimus Slime (Leader of the Taylor Swift Defense Force, Gobot in disguise) @ Feb 10th 2009 7:57PM
how do I iTunes+?
MowDownJoe @ Feb 10th 2009 7:57PM
I don't hate iTunes, but I do prefer AmazonMP3. The lack of taxes helps. Also, the fact that not everything is currently DRM-free, even with them trying to make iTunes+ the standard.
Also, this snubs Zune users, since AmazonMP3 worked with both iTunes and WMP.
Premature ejaculation man @ Feb 10th 2009 8:36PM
iTunes is just slow crappy software. And the only software that is compatable with iPhones sadly.
Doug @ Feb 10th 2009 8:56PM
basically, everyone above sora, summed up my opinions. itunes is laggy, overpriced, overrated, and an ass of a software. DRM free music right? If I wanted to actually convert all my music to DRM free, it'd cost me 30$. That's not fair at all. Now I just use Amazon. The only thing itunes might be good for, is that House seasons are 20$ less than retail. But Amazon offers the same price, so I still stick with unbox.
dastranger @ Feb 10th 2009 11:52PM
@MowDownJoe AAC works fine on the Zune and on WMP. You should try it.
@Turbo How is iTunes more expensive? In many cases Amazon MP3's are more expensive than iTunes music.
@Doug You don't have to do that anymore. You can actually PICK the music you want to "upgrade."
ill trooper @ Feb 10th 2009 11:51PM
Turbo, you are wrong, wrong and wrong. Quit spreading FUD.
AwesomeTown @ Feb 11th 2009 7:51AM
I like the iPod, great product, but I do not like iTunes on Windows. I've ran into numerous problems with it, none of which were severe, but just really annoying. It just doesn't do what I want it to do sometimes. However, I do like the interface.
And also, I have found AmazonMP3 to be cheaper as well. Not sure how the new iTunes pricing structure is working, but Amazon consistently as big name singles for 0.89, tons of albums for $5-$8, and 5 albums for $5 every Friday. I'm just a big fan of Amazon.
Lars @ Feb 11th 2009 2:50PM
I too hate iTunes. This is terrible news.
Doug @ Feb 11th 2009 5:10PM
dastranger- first of all, I love all the music I bought on itunes (I don't splurge, just the songs I like)
Secondly, I own the song in the first place, there should be no reason for me to pay an extra 30cents to have my songs changed.
Einhanderkiller @ Feb 10th 2009 7:40PM
But Amazon is better.
spacemonkey @ Feb 10th 2009 7:50PM
i want rockstar to patch gta so i can have a mp3s on my radios
how else am i suppose to feel like a pimp running away from the coppers if i don't have it's raining men blasting out the speakers
more bad asser @ Feb 10th 2009 8:04PM
just another example of "going with the masses" instead of with what is technically superior, or what is overall a better end product. amazon's mp3 service has always carried more of my "niche" musical tastes, offered me better file quality, and has never put DRM on any of it. it just downloads as a plain mp3 and doesn't jump through conversion loops to aac and m4a and junk like that.
i have no clue what extent this partnership is, or how it will all work, or what, but it sucks seeing crap supported for the sake of the huge number of sheep that use it.
StarCasm, formerly known as Rastafario, formerly known as HB96st @ Feb 10th 2009 8:14PM
OH NOES!!!
APPLE?? WHY??
It's so crappy and static-key It just sucks!! It's crap, and everyone that uses it is sheep!!
Bad ass, you're just a Dumb Ass. You really think Apple an iTunes is THAT bad??
Okay, check this out..
It's a expansion of the game... It' not a whole library.. Amazon still has Tons of music to choose from. Life does not end because R* sided with Apple.
Deal with it.
phr3qu3ncy441 @ Feb 10th 2009 8:53PM
um... maybe it's because going with the masses will generate more revenue? they are a business after all.
mynk @ Feb 10th 2009 11:35PM
what's with the rankings. the same topic right above was up ranked and this guy gets downranked, and the one saying something about business was completely right in whatever he said.
you guy's having problems with plus and minus again?
Turbo @ Feb 11th 2009 7:11PM
The red slant means good, right?
PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Feb 10th 2009 8:24PM
wow didnt know about this feature. is this only on the 360 version or have I just not noticed it on the PS3 version??
StarCasm, formerly known as Rastafario, formerly known as HB96st @ Feb 10th 2009 8:37PM
Didn't know myself.. Will try it tonight though..
WPstart @ Feb 10th 2009 8:37PM
I've got the 360 version and haven't seen anything about this in the game. Must just be a feature pushed into a corner for you to randomly discover, if ever.
phr3qu3ncy441 @ Feb 10th 2009 8:54PM
i found this out after registering on their website.
Lee @ Feb 10th 2009 8:53PM
Since Amazon music or whatever they want to call it isn't available in the country I'm currently staying in I welcome this.
And slow? my 40gb of music takes an age to load on WMP but is much quicker on iTunes and has better playlist and sorting features.
Premature ejaculation man @ Feb 10th 2009 8:55PM
Perhaps its because I'm on Vista. Its just a horrible experience for me :(
Doug @ Feb 10th 2009 8:58PM
Lol, I have 3gb of ram and an intel dual core viiv at 3.0 GHz. It takes about a minute to load 200 songs, most of which don't work when I get there. Did I mention that Apple deletes my music randomly?
ill trooper @ Feb 11th 2009 12:00AM
"Did I mention that Apple deletes my music randomly?"
NOW THEY'RE WATCHING YOU
blue ocarina @ Feb 10th 2009 8:56PM
meh. I like Amazon MP3 better, but could care less about this.
Kspraydad @ Feb 10th 2009 8:58PM
Well...won't be buying any music in this manner then....itunes is horrible imo.
Douche Bigalow @ Feb 10th 2009 9:36PM
iTunes does suck. The inflexible and unfriendly interface, the inability to control lots of aspects of how music is displayed, the lack of open formats ... it's a pain in the ass.
But what really gets me is people readily pay $10 - the old cost of a CD - for pre-compressed and lossy music.
StarCasm, formerly known as Rastafario, formerly known as HB96st @ Feb 10th 2009 9:59PM
Unfriendly Interface?? Y'all must be a PC.
But hey, to each their own. I for one love iTunes and my Powerbook. I own 3 iPods in which one is an iPhone. I'm not going anywhere, so I'm good..
Ignatius @ Feb 10th 2009 10:41PM
I hope to god that was sarcasm...
mynk @ Feb 10th 2009 11:38PM
if that wasn't sarcasm, seriously. i back the unfriendly interface comment.
i hate itunes interface. especially compared to WMP11 or ZuneSoft
Chinpo (Rurouni Kenshin Forever!) @ Feb 10th 2009 9:37PM
What's the big deal? Just ID the song through "ZIT!" and purchase the song yourself through your favorite brick and mortar or digital store instead of having Rockstar spoon feed it to you through their Social Club service. I'm not getting it.
Mark C @ Feb 10th 2009 10:19PM
Heh...I wish Fallout 3 had this feature. CHOPPIN' THAT MEAT!
DBoyFlex @ Feb 10th 2009 10:27PM
I would care, but I will never download a song from the game anyways. I do buy music through amazon more often than through itunes, which is never.
Dave @ Feb 10th 2009 10:51PM
Wait a minute. No wonder I always turned the radio off during the game. Now I realize there isn't a single song in that game I care enough about to pay for. GTAIV is a great game but the music selection pretty much sucks. Hopefully they'll pick better music for the DLC.
Jordan Biffle @ Feb 10th 2009 11:12PM
Why does everyone bitch about iTunes? I've used it for 2 years and have had no problems with it at all. And as a music player, its one of the best I've used. I welcome this with open arms.
mynk @ Feb 10th 2009 11:41PM
do you realize the difference between being the best music player you used vs. being the only music player you used? because seriously, thats like me watching one movie a year and telling all my friends it should win movie of the year because it was my best movie watching experience of the year. and i hope to god none of y'all ever do that.
dastranger @ Feb 10th 2009 11:55PM
@mynk Well, guess we can agree to disagree. Personally, I've used them all (I have to... unfortunately). iPods do what I want it to do: play music.
ill trooper @ Feb 10th 2009 11:59PM
Mynk, did you even read his comment? He never said iTunes was the only music player he's ever used. YOU somehow assumed he said that. I hope you enjoy your one movie this year.
Ernest Alba @ Feb 11th 2009 2:26AM
FTR, I love Apple products and I Love iTunes. I've been a user since before college and now that I'm a senior (and tech administrator for an office here at MIT), I can say that of all the platforms I deal with, none is more pleasurable than Apple's. I don't envy Windows users trying to run iTunes, though.
john @ Feb 13th 2009 12:53AM
So have you ever wanted to try to make your facebook page unique? It's pretty hard considering you can't change colours of your background or text. I decided to do some research and see if I could add some cool pictures or something to make my profile stand out,than I came across a site www.hypster.com that let you make a free account and add music players to your facebook page! not only that but you can change the colours to! so not only will your new facebook profile be playing one of your favourite songs but it will be your favourite colour or colours! please take a look! And if you don't have facebook, this site's codes also work for myspace, bebo, piczo etc. take a look at www.hypster.com
MySpace Music Player Code,Friendster Music