Sony Announces DRM-Free Music at Amazon

sehlat brings us a New York Times report that Sony has agreed to start selling DRM-free music from Amazon's MP3 store. This comes days after Sony revealed plans for physical MusicPass cards that would allow DRM-free access to a small portion of Sony's library. Now that all four major record labels are on board with Amazon, some are expecting Apple to make moves away from DRM as well. From the NYTimes: "Sony's partnership with Amazon.com also underscores the music industry's gathering effort to nurture an online rival to Apple, which has sold more than three billion songs through its iTunes store. Most music purchased on iTunes can be played only on Apple devices, and Apple insists on selling all single tracks for 99 cents. Amazon, which sells tracks for anywhere from 89 cents to over a dollar, offers the pricing variability the labels want."

Apple will drop DRM when the labels allow them

[ExileOnHoth]

some are expecting Apple to make moves away from DRM as well

Apple would love to "make moves away from DRM." [apple.com] Obviously they will do this as soon as the RIAA-signatory record companies make the DRM-free music available to them. The DRM is not central to Apple's business but is something the record companies forced on them to make the initial deals that created itunes.

After Jobs released the memo linked above, EMI made DRM-free music available to Apple, and Apple immediately started selling it DRM-free. Of course they'll do the same with the other labels.

Re:Apple already did with EMI - They were first!

[kamapuaa]

Apple already moved away from DRM with EMI and "iTunes Plus" tracks. They were the first online music reseller to do so.

That's not true. emusic.com was doing this years before iTunes.

Re:There's Already DRM-Free Music At Amazon....

[Khyber]

Umm, you apparently don't know much about "Compact discs" as many such discs HAVE DRM (Sony rootkit, anyone?) Look really closely at that album you're about to buy. Does the case have the SANCTIONED Compact Disc logo on the packaging? No? That's because any CD with any sort of DRM or modification (bonus data tracks) violates the Compact Disc Format, and is not allowed to carry that branding.

In other words, if you don't see the sanctioned logo [google.com] on front or back of the case on the actual paper inserts, odds are you have a DRM-laden disc.

Re:Free market

[ljaguar]

"3) Amazon just downloads the stuff to your hard drive. It feels just like a purchase."

what do you think iTunes does? it also just downloads the stuff to your hard drive.

Re:Free market

[Steve001]

Bob[Bob] wrote and included with a post:

2) It's in MP3. I think non-DRM's AAC files are fine, but MP3's are more desirable.

Whuh? Why would you prefer MP3 over AAC? Are you still using a Diamond Rio or something? :-)

The main reason I can think of for preferring MP3 over AAC: Just about every compressed audio player will play MP3 files. Although the number of players that will play AAC file is increasing, it will be a long time before it will approach the number that can play MP3.

I have many devices that will play compressed audio files (including my computer). All will play MP3, five will play WMA, two will play AAC, and two will play ATRAC.

One of the main advantages AAC has over MP3 is better sound quality at a lower bitrate. For me, encoding my MP3 files at a 192 bitrate gives me good sound quality, and I don't mind the extra space it take to store the files. I might save space using AAC but the files will only play on a limited number of devices.

Re:Free market

[tepples]

Why would you prefer MP3 over AAC? Are you still using a Diamond Rio or something?

I don't listen to country [wikipedia.org]. The point is that a lot of portable players can play MP3, WMA, and nothing else. Apple iPod players can play AAC without DRM, and many that also play MPEG-4 ASP or H.264 video can, but others cannot. This is due to both a limited silicon budget for decoders and a limited patent royalty budget for decoders.

Re:Free market

[curiosity]

They are at 256kbps from Amazon.

Re:Free market

[curiosity]

Since actually looking into the product is apparently too much to ask before you spout your opinion...

Tracks are encoded at 256kbps, include album artwork, and the albums are substantially less than the MSRP of the corresponding physical item.

Re:Free market

[smitth1276]

What an obnoxiously simplistic analysis... I don't disagree that CDs are WAY overpriced, but a lot more goes into the cost of a CD than what is accounted for in the simple "I can buy CD's for $1, so the rest is profit" formulation. If you want to effectively criticize the industry, use rational, accurate criticisms.

Re:Satan just called...

[ivan256]

That's funny, because since then Sony has:

• Apologized [sonymusic.com]
• Released an uninstaller [sonybmg.com]
• Replaced the discs with DRM free discs (even paying shipping), and offering three free albums, or a (tiny) amount of cash to people affected [wikipedia.org] (Admittedly, they should have done this much sooner than they did)
• Released the most open commercial video game console ever, allowing custom OS installs, the playback of open media formats, using open network protocols, and supporting other vendor's physical media formats
• And now... Started selling DRM free music downloads.

They've basically completely transformed from the closed company they were just a few years ago and had been for decades. So, what else do they need to do?