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DRM free songs for $.99 cents? Best news I have heard all day.

That's fabulous. The market speaks!

Apple wanted to do something like this from the start, but the record labels insisted on "bulletproof" DRM. Apple provided it, and for awhile the labels were happy . . . until they realized that Apple had essentially locked up the market for online downloads. With the iPod, AppleTV and iTunes being the only devices supporting Apple's DRM scheme, the labels suddenly found themselves completely dependent on Apple.

Whoops. Be careful what you ask for - you just might get it.

Of course, DRM did nothing to stop the proliferation of free tracks available for download online - there's always one hacker who figures out how to crack it, somehow. Once that's done it spreads online like wildfire. Worse, users are swapping whole hard drives full of music files.

Now some of those same labels have finally relented and started selling DRM-free tracks thru iTunes - a small step toward creating an e-music landscape that isn't Apple-specific. Others (Universal) have stupidly declared "war" on iTunes, a bad move since Apple still has the nicest online store, a decent library manager (iTunes), and the most popular players.

I think it's all too little, too late for the record studios. Their established big-name artists are leaving, frequently for better deals offered by other channels (Madonna's defection to concert promoters LiveNation being the biggest example - the real money these days is in touring, anyhow).

Smaller acts don't necessarily need a big label to break into the market anymore, with alternative channels like YouTube and iTunes or commercial placement becoming more important. I could also see retailers like Target and Wal*Mart getting into the music business (Starbucks already has, with some success), and there's nothing to prevent broadcasters like Clear Channel from developing and programming their own talent on the massive networks they own, cutting record studios out of the equation completely.

The studios had over a decade to establish their own online e-music retailing services, and they blew it spectacularly. They will not be missed.

Tech-dummie here with a tech-dummie question: does this mean that I can download DRM-free tracks from iTunes and play them on non-Apple devices?

Yes, provided those devices support files compressed using .aac compression. Unfortunately, most portable devices don't support that format, although there are several software players for the PC which do (notably Winamp and also MediaMonkey with an old .aac plugin made for earlier versions of Winamp), as well as some home media receivers like the Sonos and the Squeezebox.

Thanks sunspot!