Today Apple announced that it’s entire 10 million + iTunes music catalogue will be DRM-free by the end of Q1 2009. This comes after pressure from consumers, who now have competitive alternatives like Amazon MP3 (US only) who offer unprotected music.
Given that iTunes has the largest online music store and is the one to beat, no competitor in their right mind would try to compete by offering DRM-protected content. Consumers have spoken loud and clear about their needs to play their music wherever they want. So from this point on I think we consider music DRM a thing of the past !!
iTunes Plus music is has always been higher quality at 256kbps over the standard 128kbps. Today’s announcement means that all iTunes content will become the higher bitrate – 256kbps. Problem is it’s going to cost you if you want to upgrade your existing music. Personally I’ll leave what I’ve got, and over time all the new music I buy will be the higher quality.
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