iTunes going mostly non-DRM, as is EMI

The BBC is reporting that EMI is removing the DRM on its iTunes music.

EMI said every song in its catalogue will be available in the "premium" format. It said the tracks without locks will cost more and be of higher quality than those it offers now.

More interesting to Magnatune, is that iTunes will now support no-DRM

He (Jobs) said the more than half of all the tracks available in the iTunes store would be available DRM-free by the end of the year. ... Apple boss Steve Jobs ... said: "This is the next big step forward in the digital music revolution - the movement to completely interoperable DRM-free music."

This is great timing, as we're just about to get our music on iTunes, and I'm definitely going to make sure our catalog gets on iTunes without DRM (if Apple will let us). We're also marking our albums as "mid-price" so that if Apple ever does tiered pricing, Magnatune's music will be slightly less expensive.

-john

n.b.: Kirk McElhearn wrote an excellent 10-point summary of what this change means.