Tag: DRM-FREE

Other than the frenzied anticipation for the coming breed of tablet PCs, the one topic that dominates the mindspace of the technorati these days is the world of e-readers. More specifically, a great debate is brewing; each of the e-readers and their associated online book stores favor differing standards and file formats, and we may have another good ole fashioned format war on our hands. ...

var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/iTunes_top_tracks_1_29_Amazon_0_99_thanks_record_labels'; As promised, variable pricing has now been implemented at the iTunes music store. Already, we're seeing most of top 10 singles and 33 of the top 100 hitting the top price-point of $1.29 (encoded as DRM-free 256kbps AAC). Interesting as Amazon's uncomfortably similar top 10 list has all these ...

We can't count the number of times we've heard from one random source or another that Apple was about to pull the trigger on a subscription-based / 100-percent DRM-free music service, and given how those have worked out in the past, we'd highly recommend taking this one with a huge dose of salt. French site ElectronLibre has it that Apple will finally offer up all of its music in DRM-free form ...

For many, the name Napster still evokes memories of the carefree early days of music downloading, when songs were free and illegal, but nobody seemed to mind. Those days, of course, didn't last long, with the service being effectively shut down by pressure from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was later re-launched as a legal download service, but never quite regained the ...

Amazon recently moved into the number two online music retailer spot without much fanfare. Amazon's online MP3 store opened merely six months ago, and it appears to be gaining on the number one retailer -- Apple's iTunes Store, which commands 80% of online digital music sales. The trends towards moving away from music burdened with digital rights management (DRM) software created new ...

Wal-Mart is the latest store to jump into the DRM-free music sales game, offering the same digital-rights-management-free tracks from EMI and Universal that are sold through the iTunes Plus, Yahoo! Music Unlimited, and other online music stores. (DRM is a system of adding a small amount of data to an audio file, which puts draconian limitations on copying, burning, and playback of the material ...

There are basically two business models when it comes to online music sales: Charge a set fee to download a track or album to own, or charge a monthly fee and let subscribers stream or download "rented" tracks as much music as they want. Upstart CD trading site Lala.com has just completed a bit of a rebirth and is now offering both models, but is also offering unlimited streaming of the entire ...