Universal announces DRM-free music trial

Universal Music Group announced a six-month trial to sell a significant chunk of its catalog without DRM protection software, heralding the record industry's latest break from its longstanding anti-piracy stance. Universal will offer DRM-free songs and albums via digital music services like Rhapsody as well as etailers like Amazon.com and UMG artist websites--Apple's industry-leading iTunes storefront, with its proprietary DRM that renders content unplayable across non-iPod devices, will not offer the UMG music in question.

According to Rhapsody parent company RealNetworks, the DRM-free UMG content will be available for the same price as protected files: 89 cents per song for subscribers, and 99 cents for non-subscribers. The 256 kbps MP3 files are compatible with any existing portable digital music player, including the iPod.

In early July, reports surfaced UMG, the globe's largest music corporation, would not renew its iTunes contract, with plans to instead market music to Apple on its own terms and determine its own pricing structure. UMG's DRM-free trial reads like another strike against Apple's digital music dominance, and should the label eliminate DRM protection on a permanent basis, the move could pressure rival labels to follow suit. In April, iTunes digital storefront began selling DRM-free content from EMI Music at a higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, with each track costing $1.29 as opposed to the 99 cents Apple charges for downloads with DRM and 128 kbps AAC encoding.

For more on the UMG trial:
- read this release

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