EMI releases full catalogue DRM-free again

EMI releases full catalogue DRM-free again
In April, the "Big 4" music label EMI took a big step towards DRM-free music when it announced it would sell its full catalogue on iTunes for $1.29.

Today, they announced that they would be partnering with Amazon to once again bring their full catalogue DRM-free to Amazon's new, yet unnamed, music download store. Unlike iTunes however, the tracks will be available in high bitrate MP3.



"Amazon.com is synonymous with a great consumer experience, and they have become an important retail partner of ours," Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group said in today's press release. "I applaud Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com for making this move. Amazon.com’s deep understanding of consumers and vast knowledge of music paves the way for a smooth entry into the digital arena. Their arrival in the digital music market will offer even more consumer choice and will be a big advance in addressing the lack of interoperability which has frustrated many music fans.”

Hopefully this will help push the market towards freedom and not the forced AAC/iPod world we live in today.

Source:
Slyck

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 May 2007 19:55
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  • 8 comments

  • phantasee

    Why is AAC forced?

    Isn't it trivial to convert iTunes music to MP3? Last I heard, Apple was the one giving people instructions on how to do this.

    16.5.2007 22:32 #1

  • SProdigy

    MP3 sucks compared to AAC. Had I known that AAC is a better quality with a smaller file size (meaning I could fit MORE music on my iPod and it won't sound like crap) then I wouldn't be busy re-doing my entire library as AAC!

    BTW, you have the option of ripping to MP3 or AAC in iTunes, it's not forced. Also, if MP3/AAC is selected as your default ripping method, you can convert an unprotected AAC file to MP3 and vice-versa.

    17.5.2007 05:16 #2

  • BcMester

    Originally posted by phantasee:Isn't it trivial to convert iTunes music to MP3? Last I heard, Apple was the one giving people instructions on how to do this.
    Yeah but the more you convert, the lower the quality will become, because of the lossy compression. And if your source file is already a low bitrate one you won't get anything good out of it.

    I'm glad Amazon will offer higher bitrate songs. This is an important step in the right direction.

    17.5.2007 06:39 #3

  • borhan9

    So its EMI teaming up with Amazon. Not bad not bad at all. At least its a step in the right direction.

    17.5.2007 20:09 #4

  • Blackjax

    Well this looks like a step in the right direction. Now the only problem remains the price. If it drops over a period of time then it's all good BUT $1.29 is a bit pricey to me. After all you are removing the cost of a physical product from your bottom line and moving it to an electrical form. In this form it's faster to distribute and store on servers. The consumer now bears the cost of storing or moving the media to physical format such as a CD. Which I would dare say costs a customer more than the labels.

    17.5.2007 22:37 #5

  • Unfocused

    It appears as if Amazon is poised to become the next big online music retailer.

    19.5.2007 18:02 #6

  • Steve83

    I like the policy, but not the price. At that price, I'll buy a hard medium & rip it at whatever bitrate I want into whatever format I want with no DRM. Why would I pay more than $0.75/song and not have a hard backup?

    19.5.2007 21:11 #7

  • Unfocused

    The lack of a physical product is what all the online retailers seem to be missing the point on. Usually, for less than the cost of the online version, you can get an actual disc, a case, and some cover art. Every now and again you get the nifty anti - piracy propaganda brochure with your purchase.

    21.5.2007 16:45 #8

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