DRM Free iTunes and New Pricing

[Cody Overcash]

DRM FREE!! Finally after months of talking about it iTunes is going DRM free. As of this writing 8 million tracks can be purchased via iTunes Plus. By the end of the quarter all the music in iTunes (12 million songs) will be DRM free via iTunes Plus at 256 kbps

Upgrading songs now to DRM free should be available via iTunes. Unfortunately it costs money with one album (12 songs) costing $3 to make DRM free.

Also announced are some iTunes Price Updates. There will be three new price rates available for music labels to choose to sell at. $0.69 $0.99 and $1.29. There will be more 69 cent tracks than $1.29

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced several changes to the iTunes(R) Store (Apple - iTunes). Beginning today, all four major music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, are now offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple's DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. iTunes customers can also choose to download their favorite songs from the world's largest music catalog directly onto their iPhone(TM) 3G over their 3G network just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price as downloading to their computer. And beginning in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29, with most albums still priced at $9.99.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer our iTunes customers DRM-free iTunes Plus songs in high quality audio and our iPhone 3G customers the ability to download music from iTunes anytime, anywhere over their 3G network at the same price as downloading to your computer or via Wi-Fi," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "And in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points — 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 — with many more songs priced at 69 cents than $1.29."

iTunes offers customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of previously purchased songs to the higher quality DRM-free iTunes Plus format for just 30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price. The iTunes Store will begin offering eight million of its 10 million songs in Apple's DRM-free format, iTunes Plus, today with the remaining two million songs offered in iTunes Plus by the end of March.

iPhone 3G users can now preview and purchase the entire iTunes Store music catalog on their iPhone 3G over their 3G network, just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price and in the same high quality format. Songs purchased on an iPhone will automatically sync to a user's computer the next time they sync their iPhone.

The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 10 million songs, over 30,000 TV episodes and over 2,500 films including over 600 in stunning high definition video. With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod(R) and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac(R) and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

[m_alexandro121]

allways look at the bright side o the live

[Ivel]

what does this drm free thing mean? what can ppl do now that they couldnt do before?

[Happy Noodle Boy]

what does this drm free thing mean? what can ppl do now that they couldnt do before?

DRM kept songs from being played/transferred on other deviced. Now that songs from iTunes are DRM-free, you can copy/move the files to any computer/player and they will play without any problems.

[noggin123450]

What does DRM-free actually mean? That you can put the songs into another device (like Zune, SanDisk, ...)?

[Miniver Cheevy]

I just only hope that studios aren't going to take this as the prime opporotunity to raise the price of a single song to $1.29.

[BrooksRocks!]

About time.

[gameviper]

What does DRM-free actually mean? That you can put the songs into another device (like Zune, SanDisk, ...)?

thats how i understand it

[wgm214]

drm free means all the none tech-savvy people are gonna have it much easier putting music on the non-iphone, phone

[haibane]

Now if only we could get lossless.

[sziklassy]

Extra money to make it DRM free? NICE!!!! Give people all the more reason to pirate...

[.:MirrorminD:.]

Now if only we could get lossless.

agreed. Lossless or FLAC

[sziklassy]

agreed. Lossless or FLAC

Doubt this is ever going to happen if their own mp3 players don;t even support it...

[Meh]

Yeah.. this would only interest the naive. $1.29 for a sub-par quality song? Really? If it was a FLAC or any other lossless format that would make sense, but $1.29 for AAC audio.. no thanks. Another reason to continue pirating.

[CAPcadetJC]

If my songs have been upgraded to itunes plus, shouldnt I be able to use them in iPhoneRingToneMaker? There all still grayed out when I try to use them. Can someone help me?

[Melech518]

I hate apple!