Oh no, not U2

 iTunes users woke up this week to find a forgettable U2 album in their music libraries.

Depending on your iCloud settings, all your Apple devices could be full of the sounds from “Songs of Innocence”, U2’s new album.

Veteran iTunes user and Te Awamutu resident, Lacosta Hayward, was surprised to have access to a music album she never downloaded, right there on her phone.

“I was very confused and I thought it was kind of cool to get free music. Then I thought ‘that’s a little bit scary’. My phone updated new music without my knowledge.

“If it was a different band, I would have been super-duper excited.”

Hayward had not plugged her phone into her computer to synchronize or update it and did not realize anyone had the ability to input data straight to her phone.

“I thought they could just offer you these things, but it was up to your own discretion as to what you chose to do with them.

“It makes me a little bit worried about the privacy of my phone. It concerns me that they might have access to other things, like my messages, Facebook or my photos.”

Apple’s own website said, “Your album is already in your library, waiting for you to download.”

When asked about the recent news of celebrity phones being hacked, and pictures of them being stolen and leaked, Hayward said she would be thinking about her own photo library.

“I guess I’d be more worried if there were any photos on my phone that were ending up on the internet.”

Although the album is in your iTunes library, you are only streaming it unless you choose to download it. This means you could be using your data allowance without being aware of it.

Self-confessed Apple “fan-boy” and ex Yoobie consultant, Mark Derbyshire said that for people who are not technologically savvy, they might find their phones are leaking data.

“If you just start clicking on things, you wouldn’t really know it’s going to start chewing your data because you wouldn’t know where it came from.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen Apple force-feed any music onto you. Apple and U2 have done things together in the past, there is a relationship there. If it forces a song onto everybody’s iPhone, iTunes or iPad, it’s going to give this false illusion of, ‘on the day of release this album has ended up on three million people’s iTunes’.”

Apple’s website said, “Apple and U2 are giving the new album ‘Songs of innocence’ to over 500 million customers worldwide. Never before have so many people owned one album, let alone on the day of its release.”

Derbyshire said that it was a publicity move by Apple that coincides with their release of their new iPhone and highly anticipated Watch.

“I think its going to upset a lot of people but its not the first time Apple has done something that’s upset people. There’s that saying ‘all publicity is good publicity’. I think anything that stirs a bit of shit for them would be fantastic.”

With a personal collection of five different Apple products, Derbyshire is aware of the risks and said that you should always think carefully about a data storing service that is offered for free.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch. I know they can do a lot with our devices; they can make a lot of decisions that will piss me off and Apple do.

“I love their products but it doesn’t mean I like or trust Apple as a company. Never have but I’m not surprised anymore when Apple pulls a stunt like this.”

Hayward said she will be more reluctant to use internet banking now and be more aware of sensitive information she puts on her phone, but hopes that someone with more time will do something to stop the lack of privacy.

“I use internet banking but to be fair I’ll probably keep using it because I’m useless and can’t be bothered going to the bank or going on my computer. I would just hope that other people will be more concerned about it than me and do something about it.”