Apple leads the way ...

[iMav]

well the fight against drm has taken a new turn with apple deciding to provide drm free music thru its famous online store:


Apple's new iTunes Plus is now selling unprotected music at a premium price

The wave washing away DRM hits Apple’s music service with today with the announcement of iTunes Plus. The DRM-free music tracks do command a premium over the traditional $0.99 protected tracks, with each 256 kbps AAC encoded track costing the consumer $1.29 each. iTunes customers who have already purchased tracks that are now available on iTunes Plus may upgrade their library of previously purchased content to iTunes Plus tracks for just 30 cents a song and $3.00 for most albums.
Songs downloaded through iTunes Plus allow customers to use their purchased content without limitations on the type of music player or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on.
EMI is the first and only record label with its catalog available on the new service, as announced in April. “This is a tremendous milestone for digital music,” said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group. “Consumers are going to love listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their favorite EMI artists with no usage restrictions.”
Although only EMI currently stands alone on iTunes, more are promised within the near future. “Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound quality of iTunes Plus,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year.”
EMI’s venture into unchained music isn’t only on iTunes – the record company announced earlier this month its involvement with Amazon.com’s new MP3 music store.



Source

[gxsaurav]

One simple question, if they are going Non-DRM way, then why not just support mp3?

I do understand that 256 kbps AAC supports better quality compared to 256 kbps mp3 but how many Digital Audio Players out there support mp4? Some phones do like SE Walkman Series & Nokia N Series, but still mp3 rules.

Customars will need to reconvert them to mp3 anyway or some other format if they want to use it somewhere else. Jobs' statement that "Many DAP support mp4" is wrong.

Other thing, people already have there music, so why make them pay again for it.? $.30 for buying again, comon...they already paid for there EMI Music.

Jobs knows how to make money even out of limited featured product. First rule of marketing "Show the customar what he wants to see".

Anyway, a really good move from Apple for going DRM Free, however they are not the first one to do so (again), they are just another one going DRM free (Yahoo Music anyone). But yeah, they are the first major vendor cos iTunes rules 70% of the Online music market out there.

[praka123]

DRM free world.
http://defectivebydesign.org

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

Originally Posted by praka123

DRM free world.
http://defectivebydesign.org

Couldn't agree more

[aryayush]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

One simple question, if they are going Non-DRM way, then why not just support mp3?

I do understand that 256 kbps AAC supports better quality compared to 256 kbps mp3 but how many Digital Audio Players out there support mp4? Some phones do like SE Walkman Series & Nokia N Series, but still mp3 rules.

Customars will need to reconvert them to mp3 anyway or some other format if they want to use it somewhere else. Jobs' statement that "Many DAP support mp4" is wrong.

The reason is that AAC is a better format than MP3 and when it comes to Apple, quality is the most important criterion behind any decision. All other things follow afterwards.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Other thing, people already have there music, so why make them pay again for it.? $.30 for buying again, comon...they already paid for there EMI Music.

Jobs knows how to make money even out of limited featured product. First rule of marketing "Show the customar what he wants to see".

Blah blah blah.
For that extra $.30, their music is being upgraded to DRM-free goodness and double the bit rate. Plus, they get to keep their old songs too. They also get discounts if they upgrade whole albums. What's wrong here?
If it had been Microsoft, they would have charged customers the whole $1.29 for upgrading their music. And Microsoft would not have fought the music labels for the interest of consumers in the first place anyway. So keep shut where you are not entitled to speak.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Anyway, a really good move from Apple for going DRM Free, however they are not the first one to do so (again), they are just another one going DRM free (Yahoo Music anyone). But yeah, they are the first major vendor cos iTunes rules 70% of the Online music market out there.

That was very painful to type, wasn't it! One sympathises.