The guys at CNet are reporting that Apple could announce DRM-free music from all four of the major music studios (not just EMI) at Macworld, along with restructured pricing. They also say that over-the-air music downloads (as in via 3G, not Wi-Fi) could be coming soon as well.

Read More »

Speculation about if when iTunes would score DRM-free tracks from all major studios like Amazon and Walmart has been rampant, but according to a rumour at AppleInsider, all this speculation may come to an end tomorrow.

Read More »

I generally don't buy music online - I'm still a purist at heart who likes to own all my music on CDs. If I was planning on spending some online dollars on some tunes though, I'd be all over this deal from BigPond - essentially they're offering 50% off the price of a $50 or $100 BigPond Music gift card. You can't pick them up online, which means you actually have to go to the shops, but considering BigPond sell a good chunk of their music (from all the majors) in non-DRM'd MP3 format, it's easy to buy the music from BigPond then transfer it over to iTunes (or other music management software for the half-dozen Apple haters out there). Deal runs until December 31st, so maybe it's that perfect last-minute Xmas gift for that hard to please colleague?

[BigPond Music via Lifehacker]

Microsoft's $US15 Zune Pass subscription service—a pretty sweet deal already—has just porked up their offer by giving you 10 free songs that you can keep every month. We've talked about Zune Pass in our Zune reviews before, but it's basically access to all of the Zune Marketplace for only the price of a CD a month. Since most of their catalog (90% or so, including all the majors and a few indie labels) is already in MP3 format, you can load these free songs on any kind of device you want, like your iPhone or Android phone or PS3 or Wii.

Read More »

Word is that Sony is going to be joining EMI in Apple's iTunes Plus. That's the extra-cost, higher-MP3-quality DRM-free option in iTunes. EMI's currently the only major label in iTunes Plus, so the addition of Sony would be a major coup for Apple to say the least. This is just a rumour though, so watch this space. [9 to 5 Mac via TechDigest]

Read More »

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]

Rhapsody, known for its subscription music service, just opened a DRM-free MP3 store. The MP3s are encoded in 256kpbs CBR, and run US$.99 per track and US$9.99 per album. Shoppers can preview 25 full-length tracks a month from the standard 5 million song catalog, which is extra sweet if you ask us. To kick things off, the first 100,000 sign-ups to the store until July 4th get one album for free, so give it a try and let us know how it stacks up against the big boys.

AU: I haven't checked yet, but I'm almost certain that this will be US only. Feel free to let me know if we can access it down under.

Read More »

Napster announced the transition to all DRM-free MP3s several months back, but now their 6 million song catalog is fully up and running. Now compatible with iPods/iPhones, Napster even claims that their inventory is "50% larger than any other MP3 store," though we're a little confused on the math since iTunes offers "more than 6 million [songs]" themselves. Most of Napster's catalog will be available at 256kbps bitrate, and they claim to be the first store to offer 100% MP3-formatted tracks. Anyone gonna give the service (another) go?

UPDATE: Ahh, we get it. Largest "MP3 store," not digital music store. Nice catch, commenters!

Read More »

Trent Reznor is not only breaking the old distribution model, he's even breaking the newest, like Radiohead's pay-what-you-want: Nine Inch Nails' latest album—The Slip—is 100% free, no payment required in any case, not even when you download the whooping 1.2GB version—which includes high definition WAVE 24/96 files (better-than-CD-quality 24bit 96kHz audio.) You can also choose from high-quality MP3s, FLAC lossless and M4A lossless. Note to record labels: drop dead. [NIN]

Read More »

Number two digital music retailer Amazon was given DRM-free tracks from all four majors in the hope that it would be the first real rival to iTunes' total domination of music sales. But, on top of the fact Amazon's numbers drastically pale to iTunes' (we did ask for specifics, they wouldn't spill) NPD is reporting that a mere sliver—10 percent—of Amazon's users are iTunes defectors, even though all of its DRM-less tracks will play on the iPod (or anything else). Which means Amazon isn't poaching from Apple's ecosystem, so they're either grabbing your mum (unlikely) or people who mostly avoided iTunes in the first place. Given the long, bitter fight for DRM-free music, it's simply bizarre. So if you're still buying from iTunes, why haven't you switched? [Electronista]

Read More »