This was unexpected. Today Telstra, through its BigPond Music service, announced that it will be selling DRM-free MP3 tracks from all four major labels, plus a heap of independents. Previously, they only sold WMA tracks that "Played 4 Sure" - or in other words, didn't play at all.

The move to DRM-free MP3 means that you can listen to these tracks on pretty much any device, including your iPod. To the best of my knowledge, it also makes BigPond the second service in the world (behind Amazon in the US) to sell DRM-free music from all four majors.

The tracks are encoded at either 256Kbps or 320Kbps, which is as good as it gets for MP3 files from an online store.

This is a fantastic move from Telstra - DRM is one of the biggest drawbacks of buying music online. Considering that MP3 tracks are still only $1.69 in the MP3 format, the question has to be asked - why would you use iTunes (unless buying iTunes Plus tracks) when you can get a DRM-free version for the same price from BigPond?

[BigPond Music]

 

Tags: bigpond | drm | drm-free | entertainment | mp3s | music | online | telstra