Apple ends DRM on iTunes and revises prices
UPDATE
As we reported in the story below back in January, Apple has finally bowed to pressure and removed DRM from all of the songs sold on iTunes.
The three-tier price structure is now live too, while all files are now encoded at 256kbps.
Of course with 320kbps files available from the likes of 7Digital, partnered with Spotify, and online stores such as Amazon selling music for as little as 29p a track, will it be enough?
Our June issue, out May 6th, will have plenty on the battle of the bitrates and digital music in general, as well as showcasing the magazine's redesign...
It's been a while coming, but Apple has finally bowed to the inevitable and announced that it will start selling music on its popular iTunes store without Digital Rights Management (DRM).
Currently most music downloaded from iTunes can only be played on iTunes or an iPod.
But a new deal with Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music means that from today eight million songs on iTunes will be DRM-free, and by the end of the first quarter of 2009 all 10 million songs will no longer have DRM.
Without DRM, music downloaded from the iTunes store will be playable on most portable music devices, not just iPods.
To coincide with the announcement, made at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, Apple has also revised its pricing structure for iTunes.
There will now be three price levels, with iTunes songs available for 59p, 79p and 99p. All albums will remain at £7.99.
And in a related development, Apple announced that iPhone users will now be able to download music from iTunes via 3G as well as a wi-fi connection.
Comments
Meh, a small step in the right direction.
I hope they are feeling the competition. It'll be good for us in the lomg run. Currently, with low bitrates and some silly prices, downloads often dont compare that well with CDs, and they ought to.
Finally! Rip-off Apple starts to feel some heat on market share and has to reduce prices and knock off DRM (I'd bet from likes of Amazon who will give you twice bitrate quality for 59p). Now at rivals some great albums are yours for just £3 (like Amazon giving you David Bowie's Greatest Hits, all 35+ tracks - try getting that for same price at rip-off Itunes store).
I think the wheels are just beginning to wobble a bit at Apple Inc. And quite right too. Ipod designer has left the company, new well marketed competition from strong players not allowing Apple to dominate d/load market over weak rivals like before and concerns that if Steve Jobs health requires him to quit then Apple is just like Microsoft a one-man show.
I've always thought that Apple were a rip-off with ALL their products, over charging it's majority customer base of shiny-shiny 'lifestyle' loving morons who live on their credit cards with no idea of the concept of good value and who have a mantra of style over substance. Harsh, but true!
You need only look at the original Iphone coming out worse than the Nokia N95 in side-by-side product comparison tests and yet still crushing it in the sales figures to see that there is truth in the idea that Apple's marketing department is far better than the products they sell.
So now we just need a well marketed hardware challenger to Ipod. There are already so many better spec'd MP3 players on the market than Ipod, it just needs one to break through. So here's to 2009 being that year.
Breadmaker, trying to find out the answer to your question. Seems unlikely I think, as removing DRM from all legacy iTunes music would be quite a task.
What about the songs we already own? Will the DRM be removed from them?
It is a matter of one click to convert AAC files to MP3 (if convenience and compatibility are your aim, rather than quality) in iTunes itself or in a whole raft of free software. Sony and other non-Apple players accept AAC files anyway.
You say: "Without DRM, music downloaded from the iTunes store will be playable on any portable music device, not just iPods."
But is it not true to say that downloaded music will only play on portable music players which support AAC files, so its not "any" device. A small point but I hope you agree worth making.