iTunes now DRM-free

iTunes goes DRM-free with variable pricing

It’s about time iTunes is freeing its content from copy protection. I started purchasing music from iTunes in 2004. But in the last year, I made the move to Amazon’s MP3 store. Amazon sells songs with no DRM, at variable prices, and in a 256 kbps MP3 format. With the latter, I can play the song on any device, on any computer, using any media player. With iTunes, their format is still in their proprietary AAC format, which means only an iPod can play the file. Now I realize I currently own an iPod, but if I want to stream my music to, say, Daniel’s Xbox 360 or our TiVo, it won’t play AAC files, only MP3. The nice thing about iTunes going DRM free is that I can now convert the file from AAC to MP3 (you can’t do that with AAC’s with DRM).

I can also upgrade previously purchased songs from iTunes to the DRM-free formats. The bad news? I have to pay roughly $.30 per song to upgrade, and I’d have to do it in bulk. That’s almost $100 in one shot (NO thanks). Amazon is still my #1 choice for digital music, but if I can’t get it there, I know now that I can rely on iTunes.