Slight Right

iTunes and DRM-Free Music

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This morning EMI (who owns a lot of record labels) announced they will be providing some of their music free of DRM (digital rights management). iTunes is one of the companies picking up the new songs so Steve Jobs was at the conference to offer the new tunes to iTunes users. Whether Steve’s rant on DRM a few months ago had any effect on this decision is hard to say, but I believe this is a step in the right direction for a music industry that is struggling to hold its ground lately. I know that I would personally be more likely to buy a song if I can do whatever I want with it, but time will tell if consumers feel the same way. The single tunes that are DRM-free (and also twice the quality!) will be a little more expensive at $1.29 a pop, but album prices remain the same. Hopefully the other record companies catch on because at this point EMI only accounts for about 20% of the iTunes music store’s offerings.

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