It's official: DRM-free music from EMI

Beatles fans, it looks like the wait is still on. Engadet is live blogging the Steve Jobs/EMI press event in London today, and they've just mentioned the official press release from EMI which reads, in part:

"EMI Music launches DRM-free superior sound quality downloads across its entire digital repertoire."

We'll have more details after the jump, so stay tuned!
So far, we know that EMI's entire catalog in iTunes will be DRM-free, and that the iTunes Store is the first online outlet to sell these new downloads (score!). Steve Jobs is calling DRM-free music "...the next step forward," and notes that DRM-free music in iTunes will be encoded at 256kbps AAC, and sell for $1.29US per song.

Stay tuned to TUAW for more on this throughout the day!

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-presen…

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Beatles fans, it looks like the wait is still on. Engadet is live blogging the Steve Jobs/EMI press event in London today, and they've just...

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Justin

DRM free music at a higher bit rate is great news. But the price increase? Lame! I wonder if the extra 30 cents is to combat the fact that the music can now be played on other digital music players.

April 02 2007 at 2:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rob G

"Are people really willing to pay 30% more for a song/album to have the DMR removed?! Considering Steves stuborness to iTunes pricing, I was pretty surprised to see that he was down for such a dramatic price increase."

HELL YES. Now I get interoperability with other MP3 players, and they're encoded at a higher quality (Macalope has a link to the entire press release)

April 02 2007 at 11:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

kiltbear

From what I read, it is on 30% more per song, albums will still be priced the same. So, it is an incentive to buy the full album.

What will be interesting is how Apple handles the $1.29 song or two and the new "Complete my album" service. Will you get the $1.29 back AND be able to download the song again without DRM when you download the whole album.

April 02 2007 at 11:12 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SoloMalee

EMI - The Sex Pistols

"There's unlimited supply
And there is no reason why
I tell you it was all a frame
They only did it 'cos of fame
Who?
E.M.I. E.M.I. E.M.I."

So I guess EMI are the goodies now. Does that mean hell froze over and global warming is solved now?

All in all, a great day for music! Finally the industry begins to understand their market, their customers and their business.

April 02 2007 at 9:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dave Caolo

Ryan: You will be able to "upgrade" all of your EMI tracks for $0.30/each.

April 02 2007 at 9:30 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

eddy

Are people really willing to pay 30% more for a song/album to have the DMR removed?! Considering Steves stuborness to iTunes pricing, I was pretty surprised to see that he was down for such a dramatic price increase.

April 02 2007 at 9:29 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ryan

this is absolutely great, but what about those of us that have already bought things from iTunes that are from EMI? Are those still going to have the DRM restrictions or is Apple going to give us a way to open those tracks up?

April 02 2007 at 9:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jacob Varghese

This is pretty awesome. With good quality, DRM free music and the pdfs of the album art, I don't think there is any reason to buy CDs anymore.

April 02 2007 at 8:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Nik

Great precedence, and a nice follow-up on Jobs' article

April 02 2007 at 8:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

paul

lets hope the rest follow suit! i would buy MORE music (i buy all mine now) if it were drm free!

April 02 2007 at 8:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply