Not to Brag, but…

Written on April 02, 2007 by Julian Bennett Holmes and 13 people have commented

DRM-free, 256kbps tracks from EMI for $1.29. You’ll still be able to buy the DRM’d 128kbps tracks for $0.99. You can upgrade tracks you already bought fro $0.30. Complete albums will still be $9.99 for the DRM-free high-quality version.

This is an interesting move. I’m surprised they’re offering both formats, but I’d pay the extra $0.30.

Apple, you’ve got a new customer on the iTunes Music Store. (Me.)

Steve Jobs also said that Apple will be offering this to all the other record labels, and that he expects to have over half the library of the iTunes Store in this new format by the end of the year.

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#1 Dave M. says:
Has there been any announcement as to when we will see these new DRM-free tracks in iTunes?

I have taken a couple of peeks today and haven’t found any yet.

I think this is really awesome. the iTunes Store is going to skyrocket to the top of the sales charts with this. There’s no barrier for folks that have a Zune or other non-iPod MP3 player to buy from iTunes now. At least when the entire iTunes library has been converted.

I have been contemplating buying an XBox 360 as a media extender for my home entertainment center. Now, I won’t have to worry about tracks that can’t be played on a non-iPod/Apple TV device since the tracks will be in an open format.

This is great news and I really commend Steve Jobs for putting out that Anti-DRM letter!
#2 Tim Hettler says:
Seems to me like this is a subtle way of raising prices on the iTunes store… Once all the major labels embrace DRM-free music, they’ll just phase-out the 99¢ option.
#3 Dave M. says:
Tim, Is that really all that bad considering that people buying from the iTunes Music Store don’t necessarily have to have an iPod to listen to the music they buy? I could live with that.
#4 Neven Mrgan says:
I, too, believe that 99c downloads will eventually go away. We all knew that - the question was just when. Everything gets more expensive with time.

Dave, I believe they said “May.”
#5 vanni says:
If the Complete albums will still be $9.99 for the DRM-free high-quality version, what is there to complain about?
#6 Daniel says:
Vanni, not everyone buys the entire albums…
#7 Mark says:
You can’t be serious? I can see charging a premium for a higher quality track, but not unDRMing the lower quality tracks is just wrong. This is just a ploy to make EMI look slightly less evil than they really are.
#8 TomK says:
this is awesome

lets see the indie labels open up too.

“we can always get high quality drm free tracks from bittorrents if they don’t want to sell it to us. fuck em anyway ripping off their artists. Buy indie labels but pirate universal.” is what a drunk guy at a bar said to me about it.

they are maybe contractually obligated to continue selling drm tracks at 99 cents with their contracts with the other labels (which might say they can’t phase out drm) but they can add a new product. Theoretically, this might be why ole steve was so clear that he was adding another product and not phasing anything out, right?

This is why you should drop acid, children.
#9 Philippe Azimzadeh says:
Actually, you were wrong because I don’t think it’s going to be available until May.
#10 steve says:
they are still in AAC, which is basically DRM for anyone who doesn’t have an ipod (or a short list of other players).

and don’t tell my you can convert them because then you are transcoding and losing major quality.

engadget did a great write up on this story
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/apple-and-emi-ditching-drm-is-good-but-its-not-good-enough/
#11 Edoc says:
Isn’t the bitrate of tracks available on iTunes 128kb? If so, that’s still not high enough quality, in my opinion.

Good to hear about the non-DRM option, though. Time to check which artists I listen to that are on EMI. I listen to a lot of indie music, so I’m curious if I’d benefit from this label.
#12 Brian says:
Unless your Bob Ludwig with a $2000.00 stereo system Im not sure you’d be able to tell the difference between the old version and the new versions of the songs. I think in an audio “taste test” if you will, most would not be able to tell.
#13 Honza says:
response to #12 - You don’t need a $2000 hifi to tell the difference between 128 and 256kbs. You just need ears and an average set of buds/phones/speakers.