Updated - 9:15 AM
You ever see one of those war movies where at the end, your favorite characters win the war, but lament those that they’ve lost in the course of it? That’s kind of what we’re looking at here today. The EMI Group alongside Steve Jobs announced that starting today, The EMI Group will sell their entire back catalog (music and music video), in what they’re calling DRM-free, “premium” downloads on iTunes. What that means is that once you purchase those files, you can expect that you can do anything you want with them. They aren’t tied to iTunes and iPods exclusively. Also, as an added bonus, these premium downloads are also encoded in a higher bitrate than the standard purchases on iTunes. These are two things that many people have been complaining about since the very beginning of iTunes.
Unfortunately, those absolutely wonderful, and much-needed features come at a cost. For an individual song download of one of these all-new “premium” files, you’ll be charged $1.29. EMI stated that the files in question are recorded at twice the bitrate of the standard stuff, in the AAC file format. The best news after this revelation was that only individual song downloads are affected by the price increase. That means that music videos are also being sold without DRM and without a price increase. All new complete EMI albums sold on iTunes will feature the increased bitrate and DRM-free goodness without a price increase. If you already own a bunch of EMI tracks or albums, they’re allowing you to upgrade your audio files to the new DRM-free, superior-quality versions for $0.30 a track.
EMI will also continue to sell the typical audio files, complete with DRM, across iTunes for $0.99, in order to give the consumer “choice”. They also stated that they would continue to employ DRM “where appropriate”, such as subscription-based music, sharing-based files, and time-limited downloads. This seems like an extremely fair compromise, given the nature of those kinds of downloads.
All in all, I guess this little price increase isn’t the worst thing in the world, although I wish that they’d continue selling individual songs for $0.99. I do heavily respect the decision to offer DRM-free, high-quality music at any price, though. This move puts iTunes even further at the forefront of digital music stores, even though others will be adding the same catalog soon. Great job to everyone involved.
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8 Comments
Allofmp3.com is the only service I use. They offer DRM-free tracks at a fraction of what iTunes charges. It can be said that Allofmp3’s legality is questionable, but $0.99 (and especially $1.29) for 1 song is a crime.
Why is my comment all bold? lol
$1.29 is pure ridiculous. And that whole “$0.30 to upgrade” garbage is like a punch to the gullet. They’re perpetuating their own piracy.
Gomusic.ru is kinda fun, I’ve used it a few times..but I concur, Allofmp3 is my old standby, I done been usin dem dere folks for multitudes o’time. They’re tops. And they’re Russian. You know what that means: If she weighed the same as a duck…then she’s made of wood..
Well, $1.29 is a bit much for one song, I’ll agree. But like both of you said, Allofmp3 has some very… Questionable business practices. iTunes is the best legal download service worldwide. At the very least, the album pricing for DRM-free music hasn’t gone up, nor has the price for DRM-free music videos. Any move that ends with DRM getting removed as well as higher quality downloads is all right in my book.
I’ve been using the Yahoo Music Unlimited To-Go service for quite some time now, and overall i’m pretty happy with it. Yes, there is DRM, but I do sort of like the “pool of songs” idea whereas you pay a flat subscription for access to everything.
I’m really curious to see if other music services will also see about getting the rights to The Beatles catalogue once iTunes gets around to it..a little competition in that area would be nice, cause i’m a Beatles nut. Hear that Yahoo Music? Competisheeon.
Well, the price may seem like a rip-off, but if you look at the larger scheme of things, this is a huge step for the recording industry. For years now, since the advent of digital music, the recording industry, including the RIAA and most of the separate recording labels, have been fighting tooth and nail to quash digital music using a pretty aggressive array of techniques.
Ever since Steve Jobs, the man behind the most successful digital music player ever has come out in defense of DRM-free music, the recording industry has felt the pressure of industry and consumers who are fed up with their heavy-handed and draconian business practices.
Though it may not be a perfect transition, it is a step in the right direction, and the best way for further steps to be taken towards more companies jumping on the DRM-free bandwagon is to support this development. If other companies see that this particular business model can be profitable and rekindle some respect and trust in their consumers, it won’t be long before other companies get the hint. That’s when prices will come down because there will be competition for equal product.
Seems we felt like emphasizing the entire site with a bold tag. Fixed.
I haven’t used iTunes since Pepsi was doing that promo with the free songs on their bottle caps. I think I racked up about 200 tracks by finding caps lying around. Right now I personally enjoy Microsoft’s Zune Pass. Access to their entire catalogue for the price of 1 CD a month? I’m all for it.