Higher Quality DRM-Free Music on the iTunes Store

Finally, someone must have hand-delivered a clue to a major record label. I am slightly amazed and pleasantly surprised to hear that EMI listened to Steve Jobs of Apple. The major record labels have been pushing Apple to allow higher prices on the iTunes store, but Apple rightly insisted that regular folks won't pay more money unless they get more for it. So EMI has agreed to distribute their music on iTunes for a higher price, but to provide more quality and, most importantly, more freedom to us, the buyers and listeners.

Finally, mainstream music will be available for download (legally) without DRM! And at double the standard bit-rate, so even the picky audiophiles should be satisfied with the quality. I think this is awesome, and I fully intend to pick up a few tracks as soon as they come available to show my support. Let's see if we can persuade the rest of the industry to provide us with products we really want!