EMI & Apple Announce DRM-Free Media
After Steve Jobs’ letter about DRM not working, EMI has stepped to the plate and decided to offer DRM-free music via iTunes. Prices for DRM-free audio increase to $1.29/€1.29/£0.99, while DRM songs remain at $0.99/€0.99/£0.79. The DRM quality songs will be at double the sound quality, 256kbps! For any songs you’ve already downloaded, you will have the option to upgrade to DRM-free for $0.30/€0.30/£0.20 more per track. What is really nice about this deal, is that it doesn’t just apply to music. Music videos as well are going to be offered DRM-Free, meaning interoperability between all of your video devices. The price of music videos will not go up for the new DRM-free content. This is awesome news and hopefully only the beginning of mass change in the way music companies treat consumers.
It’s nice to note that ful albums DRM free will not increase in price.