iTunes has at least a couple of different plans, according to the reports. The cheapest plan gets you mostly tunes with DRM incorporated. A "premium" plan has been advertised as "no DRM" and is also claimed, apparently, as giving you better sound quality.

The presence of the embedded information is not, in itself, more objectionable than many other things that have been done. It's that they have claimed "no DRM" but have covertly incorporated what amounts to another DRM device.

Had they said "we will use a different system that will be less intrusive in your use of the downloads" I wouldn't have thought it worth noting what the system is, since people would have had the chance to ask about it.

In their favor, iTunes apparently has been attempting to get agreement from other "rights management" organizations, to permit less invasive methods of management. At present, the list of tunes that they are able to produce using their "different DRM" method is severely limited by non-cooperation of others.

John