EMI May Remove DRM From Parts of Catalog

An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica is reporting that EMI may announce on Monday that it will be freeing much of its catalog from the shackles of DRM. The Wall Street Journal, in a subscription-only portion of its site, is saying that that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be present at the announcement in London and that the music will be sold through the iTunes Store and possibly other online outlets. In early February rumblings were heard that EMI was thinking about ditching DRM, but EMI was unable to entice the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and others. As it turned out, EMI wanted a considerable advance payment to offset what it perceived as a risk: selling DRM-free music online. EMI's position was simple: if they sell music without DRM, then users will find trading it that much easier." There's also rumours of an Apple/Beatles announcement sometime today, perhaps tied into this drm decision.

Comments

Call me a music snob but....

[pandrijeczko]

There's also rumours of an Apple/Beatles announcement sometime today, perhaps tied into this drm decision.

...if you're too stupid to be able to rip Beatles songs from a CD yourself, or, indeed, you believe you can understand the full nuances of the Beatles music while listening to it through tinny (and tiny) headphones while you're on a gym treadmill, then my advice is stay away from their stuff altogether in the first place.

Stick to the "music for the masses" claptrap that infests the pop charts today - and you'll still be nice and fashionable with your iPod also...