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Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Report: Apple to Drop Copy Protection on iTunes Music

Erik Berte

FOXBusiness

Apple (AAPL) will soon take out the hassle out of purchasing much of the music from iTunes. The All Things Digital blog is reporting that a deal has been worked out between Apple and three major record labels that would allow DRM-free tracks to be sold on the online music store.

Warner Music (WMG), Sony (SNE), and Universal Music Group, have reportedly worked out a deal with Apple that will be announced during the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco, CA, which is going on from Jan 5-9.

In order to get the labels to go along with this, Apple has reportedly given into their requests for variable pricing on iTunes tracks, which are currently offered at 99 cents a piece. The expectation now is that the tracks will go for between 79 cents and $1.29 depending on demand.

The iTunes store, through iTunes Plus, already offers some DRM-free music from the EMI label for a slightly higher price.

DRM, an abbreviation for digital rights management, prevents downloaded music purchased from various online stores from being illegally distributed on peer-to-peer networks. Purchasers are granted a license with the file that allows the music to be played only on authorized computers and devices.