Apple listens to user feedback, which is evident by the introduction of a new tool that lets users remove the U2 album Songs of Innocence from their iTunes library entirely (via 9to5Mac). The album was given away to all of the over 500 million iTunes registered users as part of Apple’s new iPhone 6 launch last week. But some users (like our own Matt Burns) weren’t thrilled to find that the U2 album was instantly made part of their collections, whether they were fans of the Irish super pop band or not.
The free album was arguably nothing but a nice bonus offered up by Apple and the Bono-led music troupe, but its presence in your collection means that if you’re streaming from your cloud-based iTunes purchases, it’s bound to come up sooner or later. It also means that anyone browsing through your collection will inevitably form opinions about your character and role in the greater picture of humanity – justified or not.
Removing the Songs of Innocence album is as easy as following a link, and then logging in to your iTunes store account. Once you’ve completed those two steps, a message lets you know it’s gone, though you’ll have to delete the actual tracks from your devices if you managed to download them.
If you would like U2’s Songs of Innocence removed from your iTunes music library and iTunes purchases, you can choose to have it removed. Once the album has been removed from your account, it will no longer be available for you to redownload as a previous purchase. If you later decide you want the album, you will need to get it again. The album is free to everyone until October 13, 2014 and will be available for purchase after that date.
It honestly didn’t really affect my life either way, but I appreciate the gesture by Apple in offering this tool. U2 may be one of the biggest pop acts on the planet, but this is a concession that has Apple basically saying ‘Oops, that’s your collection, and we should respect that.’ If you have a change of heart about the album, you can always re-download it from iTunes for free, so long as you do so before October 13, after which time it’ll be a standard paid purchase.