The Good, The Bad, and The DRM-Free

(Credit: myspace.com/thegoodthebadandthequeen)

On Monday, the face of digital music was potentially changed forever when record label EMI Group announced that it would be offering premium versions of its albums available for download, with better audio quality and no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions attached. Even more surprisingly, EMI's first partner in the endeavor is Apple's iTunes Store, which many would argue is the poster child for DRM's shortcomings.

EMI's DRM-free offerings won't be available on the iTunes Store until next month, but the label has announced that the first premium album, the self-titled LP from The Good, The Bad, and the Queen is available for purchase on the band's Web site. It's in MP3 form--the iTunes Store's version will be in Apple's preferred AAC audio format.

The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, as you may recall, gave a live performance prior to EMI and Apple's joint announcement on Monday. It's the latest project from British rocker Damon Albarn, of Blur and Gorillaz fame.

P.S.: Just to clarify, EMI has offered several DRM-free downloads in the past. This, however, is the first "premium" one to come with the enhanced audio quality, as part of EMI's new DRM-free initiative.

[bblackmoor]

One word...

AllOfMP3.com. What an online music store SHOULD be.

[ebarrelr]

I tried emusic and it sucked

I spent hours just trying to find 25 songs I liked. I did a search for Jethro Tull and found songs that were by other people than them. I found an album I never heard of but no music from their old stuff. I tried this on every group I love with the same kind of results. I did download about 21 songs after about 4 hours of searching then just unsubscribed to the service. I won't pay $10 a month for millions of downloads a month if there aren't any good songs to download. The reason Itunes is so popular is the ease of use. You can find out if the song you want is there in seconds not hours.

[mrmacfixit]

The "DRM Mess"

I have to point out that it was neither Apple or Microsoft that created the " the
DRM mess"
I think you will find that the Music Labels were the ones that dictated that
there would be "protection" on the tracks that were sold.
The DRM applied by Apple was by far the least restrictive of the two systems
commonly used.

P

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