EDITORIAL: In recent months, some record labels have begun to acquiesce to consumer demands, stripping DRM from some of their online offerings. This summer, EMI began selling its music DRM-free via the iTunes Music Store, but for a price; the unlocked audio files cost $1.29, $0.30 cents more than standard DRM-ed iTunes music. And this week, Amazon launched AmazonMP3, a music download service comprised entirely of DRM-free music tracks, nearly 2 million strong. These high bit rate DRM-free MP3 files from AmazonMP3 sell for either $0.89 or $0.99 per song, and can be played on any device that supports MP3 audio files: iPods, cell phones, PDAs, DVD players, Windows Mobile devices, digital audio and video players, etc. By taking DRM out of the equation, users can finally purchase digital content and use it however and wherever they’d like.
