Sources: Apple, music labels talk DRM-free songs
A year after iTunes began offering music without copy protection software from EMI, Apple is in discussions with the other three top recording companies about acquiring DRM-free songs, according to two music industry sources.
The talks are still preliminary and no deals have been finalized, but one source said one of the major labels is close to a final agreement. Rumors have been swirling on the Internet for a week that Sony would soon be offering music without the controversial digital rights management software. My sources could not confirm this.
Spokespeople for Apple and the major labels declined to comment.
Should the deals get done, the songs offered by Apple's iTunes would no longer be restricted to playing on Apple devices, such as the iPhone or iPod. This has been one of the main criticisms of iTunes music for a long time. Apple says the music labels are the ones that force Apple to adopt DRM. Music insiders say Apple has long dragged its feet about getting unprotected music. Right now, Apple uses the proprietary DRM scheme, FairPlay, to lock down its music.
Talks with at least two of the labels have taken place on and off for several months, said the sources. They cautioned that there's no guarantee Apple and the labels can close the deals. But if iTunes is successful in acquiring the rights to sell unprotected music from Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMG, the deal could help bolster iTunes' dominant position in digital music, as well as send competitors scrambling to find something new to differentiate themselves.
In the past year, the four top recording companies have been moving away from DRM--at least with other music services. In that time, companies such as Amazon, MySpace Music, and Napster have all begun selling open MP3s. MP3s are the format used to compress music files. Universal Music is expected to soon announce that the label is licensing MP3s to Microsoft for Zune. EMI and Warner already have DRM-free deals with Microsoft.
The marketing efforts of these Apple rivals have played up the idea that their music is unencumbered with DRM.
Also in the past year, technological shortcomings of copy-protection software have generated a lot of public scrutiny. As some iTunes competitors have exited the market, they have taken their DRM music with them.
This year, MSN, Yahoo, and Wal-Mart outraged some customers and consumer groups by announcing they would stop issuing keys for their DRM-protected songs. This meant the music would be prevented from being transferred to an owner's other devices.
Eventually, all three music services reversed their decisions, but it convinced DRM critics that DRM software never truly surrenders control of music to a buyer. While it's inconceivable to think that Apple would ever stop issuing DRM keys, it's absolutely possible.
CNET News reporter Ina Fried contributed to this report.
See also:
• Wal-Mart to carry iPhone after holidays?
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 
that's a good point. I don't know whether my sources were just throwing out MP3 as a way to describe unprotected music. I also don't know whether any deal would include transferring older music to non DRM music. I'll try to find out. GS
It wouldn't make any sense for iTunes to go back to the older mp3 technology.
Interesting point, though you're off on one minor point: "MP3" is actually MPEG1, part 3. Just fyi. We could split hairs over how AAC is also defined under MPEG-2 (part 7) in addition to MPEG-4 (part 3) that most people are familiar with in regards to your comment about "the same people who made MPEG2"..but that's mostly a semantics issue IMHO unless one compares feature-by-feature in a given application. The minor technical error in no way detracts from your main point about perception....and with that I wholeheartedly agree. AAC is a superior codec in almost every conceivable way over mp3..except the most important one: public perception and acceptance (and as a corollary universal playability of mp3 versus slightly more limited hardware support for AAC).
Last one, I promise...I *meant* first specified in the MPEG-1 spec (and hence the "3" in mp3 refers to the Layer III of the MPEG-1 spec) thus defined as a MPEG-1 codec. Gah. I need some caffeine or something.
However...
I won't buy any music from any online store unless it is losslessly compressed (CD quality or better). I know many people claim they can't tell the difference, but there are those of us who do hear a difference. Thus, lossless CD quality or better or no sale.
Record companies: I and many others will greatly increase out buying if we are offered Apple Lossless!
Personally, I've never bough music from iTunes or any other digital download service. All CD and LP rips, even on my iPhone. More flexible that way and naturally DRM free.
http://bandit.fm
While navigating the site is nothing like the iTunes Music Store it has one very compelling feature, users can sample complete, full length music tracks and videos, something that I wish iTunes had.
Apple's sold DRM-free music (iTunes Plus tracks) for over a year and a half.
- by Calvin_L December 30, 2008 7:07 PM PST
- Apple's flagship product (the iPhone) could only be found at a few large retailers, which includes AT&T, Best Buy, and Apple Stores. Now, it looks like the crew is adding a new member to their team, Wal-Mart. According to the article, Wal-Mart is rumored to be offering the iPhone's 4 GB model by December 15th, for the price of $99. This would allow holiday shoppers a chance to buy before Christmas. Other rumors, however, place the release date to December 28th and instead of the 4gig model it is expected to be the 8 GB models, which said to be sold at $197. As usual, Wal-Mart?s ambition to provide consumers the lowest prices on consumer products and merchandise will of course kick in. Rumor has it that they will have the iPhone on the counter for two dollars less than any other retailer, which may not seem like much of a discount. But when you think of it, any savings is better than no savings at all. Obviously, Apple wants to take advantage of the daily foot traffic at each of Wal-Mart?s locations, but will not want to overstep its other established retailers by undercutting them. Since their sales have not been where they would like them to be, Wal-Mart will most likely make a good profit from the deal since it will help boost their consumer electronic sales. They are taking major steps and have brought in a third party to help educate their staffs and consumers on the latest technologies regarding this purpose.
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