Amazon launches beta version of DRM-free music store
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The online retail giant finally unveils its long-awaited music store. In a double punch to Apple, it's DRM-free--and cheaper.
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Quality DRM-free tunes sell well, says 7digital, which plans to drop copy-protection this year.
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Amazon MP3 joins the lineup of digital music stores, selling tunes unencumbered by copy protection technology. Of course, that means some artists are simply unavailable.
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Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said on  Sunday it will begin an international roll-out this year of its  digital music store that offers songs without copy-protection  technology known as digital rights management.
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DRM-free service to roll out this year Presenting possibly the biggest threat to the dominance of iTunes so far, Amazon.com has announced it will commence an international roll-out of Amazon MP3, it's DRM-free digital music store, this year.â¦
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Amazon.com Inc &lt;AMZN.O&gt; launched an early version of its highly anticipated digital music download store, which is seen as a potential rival to Apple Inc's &lt;AAPL.O&gt; dominant iTunes system.
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(InfoWorld) - Yahoo put another music track without DRM (digital rights management) on sale through its Yahoo Music service Tuesday. The Norah Jones single "Thinking About You" sells for $0.99, in MP3 format on Yahoo's music store, and in DRM-encumbered AAC format on Apple Computer's iTunes Store. Both formats will play on PCs, Macs, and the market-leading iPod portable music player, but only the MP3 version will play on other portable music players. DRM technology is used to set limits on how, when, how many times, and on what devices a file may be played. While DRM can be applied to music in AAC, ATRAC, or WMA format, it cannot be introduced into MP3 files. Yahoo first experimented withÂ selling MP3 files without DRMÂ in July, when it offered Jessica Simpson's "A Public Affair" as an MP3 file for $1.99. While that track was not tied to a particular PC or music player with DRM, the audio track was personalized to contain a first name of the purchaser's choice, picked from a list of hundreds of prerecorded names, limiting its interest to other listeners. Since then, Yahoo has sold an entire album by the artist Jesse McCartney in both MP3 and the DRM-encumbered WMA (Windows Media Audio) format, but has not published sales figures for the two formats. Some see the release of tracks in MP3 format, without DRM, as a big gamble for record labels, as nothing prevents buyers from uploading them to file-sharing networks. In reality, DRM does little to stop such behavior, but makes life harder for legitimate music users, said analyst Mark Mulligan, a vice president at Jupiter Research in the U.K. "Most of the DRM in place is not going to stop piracy. You've got limits on CD-burning, but all of that is cracked immediately if you burn it onto CD and rip it back in again. Anyone with an ounce of tech-savvy is going to know how to get around that," he said. But the fact that there's nothing to stop listeners copying and sharing MP3 files could work to record labels' advantage, said Mulligan. "It's going to be implemented more as marketing than anything else," he said. Blue Note Records, the record label promoting the Jones track, is only releasing the single, not an entire album, in MP3 format for now. If Mulligan is right, it could be just a marketing gimmick to build awareness of the album, which will go on sale in January. Major record labels are starting toÂ look more seriously at MP3 distributionÂ because of the success of eMusic.com, which Mulligan says is the second-largest online music download store in the U.S., after that of Apple. EMusic sells music from independent record labels in MP3 format.
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Harmony, which is incorporated in version 10.5 (and will also be in the next version of the RealRhapsody music service), allows the player to manage Digital Rights Management (DRM)-protected
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Company expands its offerings by providing DRM-free music from Warner Music Group.
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Hoping to one-up Apple with its recent move away from digital rights management, high-quality music site MusicGiants began offering DRM-free music recently with the release of Paul McCartney's newest album, Memory Almost Full.
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At least one online music service without digital rights management restrictions is launching.
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Amazon waited to offer digital music until it could sell unrestricted MP3 files, rather than songs with digital rights management. It may force Apple to compete on price and terms.
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Amazon.com Inc launched an early  version of its highly anticipated digital music download store,  which is seen as a potential rival to Apple Inc&#39;s dominant  iTunes system.
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Apple has announced that it will drop prices on its DRM-free AAC downloads to $0.99, the same price as all other single-song downloads. Amazon responded by giving its affiliates a 20% cut of all sales.
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Yahoo's cautious experiment with eMusic-style DRM-free music downloads continues as their Yahoo Music service releases another single in MP3 format.
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Retailer Play.com is planning to open its own digital music store which will sell DRM-free tracks for between 65 and 70 pence.
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Online retailer Amazon.com Inc has signed on Warner Music Group to its music download service, which aims to compete with Apple Inc's industry-dominating iTunes online store.