Major MAJOR steps taken in DRM history today

In a "take the bull by the horns" moment of triumph, EMI announced with Apple today that the companies will begin providing DRM-free music on Apple's iTunes Store. The downer is that these songs will cost $1.29 while DRM-protected music will still cost $.99. While DRM-free music isn't a new fad for EMI, the day has finally come when digital music consumers are actually being heard and major record labels are finally starting to understand what motivates us to use P2P networks as opposed to buying a CD that costs $20 for one or two songs that we enjoy.

As an avid iPod user, I've definitely taken a drink or several of the iTunes Store kool-aid and have been very happy (and sometimes even surprised) by the amount of music available to me as a consumer. What's plagued me and so many other music lovers is the interoperability issues surrounding the purchase of DRM-protected music. True consumer freedom in the digital music space would mean being able to legally acquire a song and be able to use it in as many ways as possible, so I'm very happy to see that at least one mega record label has opened the way for a more community-style digital music scene.

P.S. Apple/EMI -- I'm a ridiculously huge Beatles fan and would like some tunes available sometime in the next hundred years.

Expect the blogs and podcasts out there to be hot on this subject for a while, at least until the RIAA has another temper tantrum. In the meantime, please see my post from February for further details on the issue.

Thanks, Phil!