Phil Schiller just announced that iTunes will be going entirely DRM free along with the introduction of a three tiered system for songs, ranging from 69 cents, to 99 cents, and up to $1.29. Apparently, songs between 0-6 years old will stay priced at 99 cents, and older songs will fall into the aforementioned tiered system. It seems that the record labels will be able to influence which tier a song older than 6 years will fall into. Seems to be a fair compromise. We’ll have more on this as it develops. But wow, 69 cents and no DRM is definitely a step in the right direction.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Was the DRM really that restrictive? Was being able to play a song ONLY on five computers really so bad? Who was burning more than seven CDs off a single playlist? And if you are trying to use an MP3 player other than an iPod/iPhone, why are you using iTunes anyway?
There was actually a funny “news” article on this topic… “People with six or more computers rejoice over iTunes DRM changes” 🙂
http://www.maccomedy.com/people-with-six-or-more-computers-rejoice-over-itunes-drm-changes/