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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Monday, April 02, 2007

EMI Uveils Plan to Sell Music Without Anticopying Software

WSJ:

In a major break with the music industry's longstanding antipiracy strategy, EMI Group PLC announced today that it plans to sell significant amounts of its catalog without anticopying software.

The London music company made its announcement with Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs. EMI is to sell songs without the software -- known as digital rights management -- through Apple's iTunes Store and possibly through other online outlets.

EMI's move comes after months of private discussions and public advocacy by Internet and technology-industry executives, including Mr. Jobs, aimed at encouraging the music industry to change its approach to licensing music for sale online. In February, Mr. Jobs took the unusual step of posting an 1,800-word essay on Apple's Web site urging major recording companies to consider dropping their insistence that music be sold over the Internet with DRM software.

Ah well. No Beatles, not today.

However: EMI is going for premium downloads. They will be free from DRM and will offer vastly improved sound quality, something I've been asking for for years. They will come at a premium, which I think I'm OK with, though I'd note that all WMA-based digital stores already offer better quality than iTunes. Some even offer lossless music.

Labels: Apple, Digital media, iTunes

[ Posted at 8:23 AM | Permalink ]