Good Bye DRM - Apple and EMI to Tie The Knot!

Tue, Apr 3, 2007

With the breaking news that EMI joins Apple for offering high quality MP3â€™s usable on any digital enabled player breaking the back of DRM, Apple is not alone anymore in the anti-DRM lobby.

With many companies embracing DRM in Europe, EMIâ€™s move is seen as anti-establishment, May will see Appleâ€™s iTunes taking the market by storm due to the addition of entire EMIâ€™s catalogue at 99p to $1.29 a track as announced by EMIâ€™s CEO Eric Nicoli.

The partner in the marriage, Steve Jobs, CEO Apple says “We think our customers are going to love this”.

The new and latest AAC encoded downloads will rake in money and double the sound quality from 128Kbps to 256Kbps.

And, whatâ€™s more, the existing Apple customers are being the facility to upgrade their EMI music collection using iTunes at a meager 20 pence or 30 cents a track.

With one of the four big wigs jumping the gun and going anti-DRM, it is a wait worth the pence to see if the others join the fray. Whether the other like Beatles will join, or not, is not known until now.

The marriage was solemnized at the EMI premises, as Steve Jobs dubbed this arrangement as the next big step for the music industry.

With EMI doing a number of consumer surveys and tests in January to gauge the mood of music enthusiasts and what they wanted from digital downloads, EMI seems to have taken, what seems to be the â€œcall of the dayâ€.

The research showed that 10% wanted easy and good quality digital downloads and were willing to pay more.

As far as the price goes, things seem to be perfect with iTunes geared to dish out tracks at 79 pence per copy protection track.

With Steve Jobs putting the current sales figure of iTunes at half a billion to date, including EMI tracks, opening up DRM now could hit this marriage adversely, although it could create a level playing field.

Steve Jobs concluded saying that he did not see any reason why people should rip tracks for iPods, and with the new premium product coming in, all new dealers should make the most out of this in Eric Nicoliâ€™s words - â€œwe hope all digital retailers will embrace this opportunity”. It is anybodyâ€™s guess now, where the prices will head if DRM opens up.

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