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Apple's Weirdest iTunes Walk-Back Turns 12 Today

u2 songs of innocence%402x scaled12 years ago today, Apple published a web page with one job: to make a U2 album go away. On September 9, 2014, at Apple's iPhone 6 event, Tim Cook revealed that "Songs of Innocence" would be given to every iTunes customer for nothing. The album was directly linked to accounts, and devices set to "download automatically" got it without asking.

Complaints quickly followed, and on September 15, Apple was forced to respond with a one-click page that stripped the album from accounts. Users were given a month to reinstall it at no cost. Apple said 26 million people ultimately downloaded the full album. Bono apologized a month later. The web tool is no longer active, but an archive of the support page is available here.

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Top Rated Comments

jayducharme Avatar
2 days ago at 04:20 am
If only Apple had said that it’s available to download for free, rather than automatically forcing it on people, everything would have been fine.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FSMBP Avatar
2 days ago at 05:17 am
For the aging Apple Execs: There is a difference between giving someone a CD for a gift, versus breaking into their house and putting the CD in their stereo.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2 days ago at 04:25 am
Please, just don’t. It still hurts.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2 days ago at 06:09 am
Obviously it would have been better if Apple hadn't forced the download or simply let people claim the album for free, but the incident also showed how melodramatic some people can be.

Sony, for all intents and purposes, installed root kits on people's computers and Apple ... gave us a U2 album for free.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2 days ago at 05:18 am
That "free" U2 album was a piece of crap, IMO. There was not a good song on it. I think Bono is one of the most overrated artists of all time, and I just wish he would just shut up and leave us all alone. That album was auto-installed onto my iPod Touch in 2014, nearly a year before I bought my first iPhone. I have deleted that album from my iTunes library again and again, but like a zombie it keeps reappearing to this day, and I am on my fourth iPhone since those days. I still get pissed every time I see one of those crappy songs show up.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2 days ago at 04:28 am
Tbh I was being a bit dramatic back in the day, and said they had 'polluted' my device. Which isnt wrong tbh.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)