AfterDawn: News

All music going DRM-free on iTunes?

Just over a year after Apple began offering DRM-free music from EMI on iTunes, sources are indicating that Apple is in talks with the remaining Big 4 labels in an effort to offer their music in a DRM-free manner as well.

The music industry source says the talks are still preliminary and there are no completed deals but did add that one of the labels was very close to a final agreement. The rumor on that front is that the label closest to completion on a deal is Sony.



If these deals get completed, the iTunes' store would finally offer music that is not locked only to Apple media devices such as the iPod and will be free of FairPlay DRM.

Talks have been on and off for months now, add the sources, but if they are completed iTunes should manage to steal more market share in the now crowded MP3 download store market. Competitors such as Amazon MP3 and Rhapsody have been able to gain market share and differentiate themselves by offering DRM-free MP3s.

Let us hope these deals do go through and Apple puts the consumer first, for once.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Nov 2008 1:16

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• 12 comments

• hikaricor

  So they're trying to make iTunes DRM free.... but they add more restrictive DRM shit to the macbook? Am I the only one who wonders the point of this dance that Apple is doing?

  20.11.2008 01:33 #1

• ydkjman

  It's just a cover up for the one. To distract us from the Negative on the other story.

  20.11.2008 01:37 #2

• Dapsone

  It's all because Steve Jobs is the Devil and this is part of his master plan for world domination.

  20.11.2008 09:15 #3

• ZippyDSM

  If you look at it like this the PC market (and I mean the whole consumer computer market) is moving to a DRM hardware base as so at a later time all the software can have DRM on it. In order to maintain consumer interest they are giving up on DRM on media in part for now.
  
  Short trem DRM is pointless long trem it will be back with a vengeance.

  20.11.2008 09:41 #4

• blueroad

  Originally posted by hikaricor: So they're trying to make iTunes DRM free.... but they add more restrictive DRM shit to the macbook? Am I the only one who wonders the point of this dance that Apple is doing?wow man that was exactly what i was saying-you should read what i wrote in the article about the iphone not getting flash ability like WM and android are about to..i hate apple..i really do and where i live less than 1% of the population has macs-and a small percentage has ipods because people pirate freely..id rather have windows and their sometimes buggy software than hopping in the sack with apple
  
  peace

  20.11.2008 12:08 #5

• Leningrad

  apple are such big ass hypocrytes,they say their releasing drm-free itunes tracks when they are just increasing the drm on their macbook plus they rant on how their mac is superior to the pc. obviousley apple must have done a serious typo, it must have been inferiour not superior.

  20.11.2008 18:10 #6

• DVDdoug

  Originally posted by hikaricor: So they're trying to make iTunes DRM free.... but they add more restrictive DRM to the macbook? Am I the only one who wonders the point of this dance that Apple is doing? Apple doesn't care about DRM. Apple is the middleman. In the beginning, the music industry required DRM, or they wouldn't allow Apple to sell their music.
  
  Now, the market has changed. The music companys have different agreements with Amazon, Rhapsody and Wal-Mart, but Apple is still operating under old contracts with 3 of the labels (which they are trying to re-negotiate).
  
  The movie companies still require DRM, and the HDMI specs require any computer with a HDMI port to support it, so that you can't easily "rip" the data from the HDMI stream.

  20.11.2008 18:24 #7

• pensfan12

  Id still rather get my music legally from Amazon or Rhapsody because it is Mp3 not Apples crappy own format which still has your name on it when you buy it drm free.
  
  Oh, and when they get Universal to go DRM free that will actually be a big break through.

  20.11.2008 19:23 #8

• dvdnxtcpy

  SPAM removed

  22.11.2008 15:18 #9

• loubat

  Yeah another step forward. At this rate, in 10 years I'll finally purchase my first "digital audio file." It'll take that long before I can get FLAC at the same price as I could pay to just buy the cd and do it myself. And by then, 500gb DAP's should be the standard. :)

  22.11.2008 18:50 #10

• notime555

  SPAM removed

  8.1.2009 06:21 #11

• jojoli

  You can try this website[url=SPAM removed/][/url].This website gives you various choices about DRM Removers.

  24.8.2009 03:48 #12