Apple, EMI Team Up For DRM Free Music
The music industry's answer to music piracy is DRM(Digital Rights Management) software. While many record labels claim it's necessary to combat piracy, there's a growing number of consumers that feel it infringes on their rights as customers, keeping them from listening to their tunes on any device they wish. In an effort to increase online music sales, Apple and EMI have teamed up to offer EMI's entire music catalog online, DRM free, through iTunes. The one exception being their Beatles collection.
"Higher-quality music files, which will play on any computer and any digital-audio player, will not replace the copy-protected EMI music currently sold through iTunes. Rather, they will complement the standard 99-cent iTunes downloads and will be sold at a premium: $1.29 per song.
Consumers who have already purchased EMI tracks containing Apple's FairPlay copy protection will be able to upgrade them to the premium version for 30 cents, EMI said. Full albums in DRM-free form can be bought at the same price as standard iTunes albums."
