Amazon to Sell DRM-Free Music

Amazon this morning announced plans to launch an online music store filled with mp3 tracks that are free of anti-piracy software. The store won't launch until later this year and, as of now, it looks as if only one of the big record labels - EMI - will make its tracks available.

It sounds like the digital music industry is starting to see a shakeup. This protective software - called Digital Rights Management, or DRM - has been controversial for some time because it restricts the playback of downloaded tracks to specific players.

Music purchased on Apple's iTunes, for example, would play on an iPod but no other player. Likewise, music purchased from other online music stores would play on some players - but probably not the iPod. The only format that's guaranteed to play on all music players is DRM-free mp3 tracks.

Apple has been under fire for some time, especially overseas, because of the marriage between iTunes and the iPod. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs put the controversy under the spotlight back in February when he posted an open letter on the Apple Web site, calling for record labels to allow online music stores - such as iTunes - to sell digital music tracks without DRM restrictions.

Some analysts said the idea had merit. It was consumers, they said, who were losing freedom of choice because of the restrictions. And others argued that DRM (and a flurry of lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America) has done little to curb music piracy.

Then came the news in April that music label EMI would make thousands of songs widely available for sale in the restriction-free MP3 format. The announcement was made hand-in-hand with Apple, which started selling DRM-free tracks on iTunes for $1.29. Those willing to live with the DRM restriction could continue to buy those tracks for 99 cents.

Now comes Amazon, which says it will make "millions of songs in the DRM-free MP3 format from more than 12,000 record labels" and notes that "EMI Music's digital catalog is the latest addition to the store."

The Post's Tech columnist Rob Pegoraro is looking into the details of the new Amazon store, as well as some more information about these 12,000 labels.


Source : blog.washingtonpost.com