Apple has made some changes to the terms and conditions that govern the use of its popular iTunes and App stores.
The revised rules were posted on its website on Monday.
One of the changes regards eligibility of songs for Apple's iTunes Match service, which gives users access to copies of their music from Apple's iCloud service.
The previous terms said song "with quality less than 96kbps" were not eligible for the service, but the new terms now present a looser definition and rule out songs "that do not meet certain quality criteria."
Apple has also made a change in the rules governing content rentals.
The company previously told users:
"You have thirty (30) days after downloading a rental to begin viewing. Once you begin viewing, you have twenty-four (24) hours to finish viewing a movie."
That language remains in the new terms and conditions, but is now preceded with a clause that spells out users have a 30-day download window. Once downloaded, a second 30 day window begins during which the user needs to start a 24-hour viewing window.
The revised rule reads:
"Once you purchase a rental, you must fully download the rental within thirty (30) days. You have thirty (30) days after downloading a rental to begin viewing. Once you begin viewing, you have twenty-four (24) hours to finish viewing a movie."
At the top of the terms, Apple has removed a paragraph of conditions relating to types of payment and how transactions are processed. It appears to have been moved to a support page, but a link provided in the new terms and conditions doesn't work.
Apple has also removed a section relating to the Ping social networking service, which the company closed down in October, and language relating to the "complete my album" feature has also been removed. It enforced a 180 day window on the amount of time a user had to use the feature, which offers a cut-price album for users that have previously bought individual tracks from the album.
