Today at Macworld Expo, during the keynote by Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller, Apple announced the end of the DRM era – all tracks available in iTunes will be available solely as iTunes Plus songs. What this means for consumers is that Apple now will be offering high-quality, 256-Kbps AAC encoded files which no longer have restrictions on CD burning or the amount of computers on which the music can be played.
Beginning today, all four major music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI — and thousands of independent labels, now offer their music in the DRM-free iTunes Plus format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding. iTunes customers can also now purchase and download songs directly onto their iPhone 3G over their 3G network — just as they do with Wi-Fi today — for the same price as downloading to their computer. And in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available for 69¢, 99¢, or $1.29, with most albums still priced at $9.99.
Unfortunately, if you have ever purchased DRM-encumbered tracks from Apple, you are going to get the shaft should you desire to remove the DRM from your existing purchases!
Recent Comments