Why Jobs is going to London: EMI is ditching DRM

Sorry Beatles fans, tomorrow may still not be your day -- but to everyone else we've got good news. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that option number two explaining Stevie J.'s visit to London tomorrow for EMI's quickly ballyhooed presentation is going to be exactly what's been rumored about for weeks: the first of the major record labels is going to allow online sales of it's digital music... wait for it... DRM-free. It sounds like savvy consumers the world over finally pounded the message home (with a little help from Jobs himself); tomorrow could mark the first great pillar of DRM crumbling under the pressure of so many end-users and nations. The only question is whether EMI will wind up regretting this decision (we sincerely doubt it), or whether this will start a domino effect with the rest of the major labels that would, in effect, spell the end of DRM forever (one can only hope). Hey, maybe EMI will even make this a twofer and offer up The Beatles DRM-free. Now that would be somethin'.

P.S. -For those without a WSJ account -- while this may not necessarily end up being true, this is at very least not an April Fool's prank.

[Via PSFK]

[Blake @ Apr 1st 2007 10:34PM]

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

I, for one, welcome the beginning of the end of DRM.

Long live the consumer!

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Apr 1st 2007 10:35PM]

DOWN WITH DRM!

[Andrew @ Apr 1st 2007 10:36PM]

What about my collection of iTunes purchased, EMI music? Will I be freed of my DRM chains or will it cost me 9.99 a CD?

[reefdog @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:06AM]

Highly unlikely. Previous purchases were made under a DRM-restricted license which you accepted when you registered your iTunes Store account. Apple has no legal obligation to do this, and the only reason they would do so is out of extraordinary politeness. Considering the costs of created a migration tool and the fact that it would create no new revenue -- good will has only transient value -- I wouldn't bet on it.

[dfgdfdfdf @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:03AM]

haha! well i suppose you should not have bought from itunes in the first place. nananananana.

[Ein @ Apr 1st 2007 10:40PM]

Any Beatles fan would already own the whole collection. The only good reason for Beatles to be on iTune is better album arts.

[Dan @ Apr 3rd 2007 5:32AM]

'Fans' may have every recording but funnily enough there are people out there who do just want to buy the odd track and move on.

[Jacob @ Apr 1st 2007 10:55PM]

Now, if only they'd raise the bitrate on songs to at least 160k.

(Please, no one go on about how "a 128k aac sounds as good as a 192k mp3"... I've heard it hundreds of times.)

[Curtis @ Apr 1st 2007 10:55PM]

Getting rid of DRM on music should be about giving us consumers a choice. I love the iPod and iTunes. But they aren't without their faults and I have experienced more problems lately, but I'm not leaving. But others should be able to without having to "repurchase" music.

It should not be about enabling piracy as someone (joking I believe) mentioned above. If someone can shell out 99¢ for a song, them f*** them!

[Joe Smith @ Apr 1st 2007 11:04PM]

damn it, if only there were more people willing to pirate classical music... joking!

[chris @ Apr 1st 2007 11:14PM]

step 1 - get rid of DRM √

step 2 - raise the bitrate count

...half way there!

[Das @ Apr 1st 2007 11:19PM]

Why must you hurt me with your lies Engadget?
I had hope for a second when I read the title..only to remember the date.

[Ryan Block @ Apr 1st 2007 11:21PM]

Did you read the post? We don't trick people here. This is no joke.

[Das @ Apr 1st 2007 11:23PM]

Growing up with many brothers has taught me to dread April 1st. It is a day of trickery and evil. And water balloons.

[Jason @ Apr 1st 2007 11:37PM]

I get it.

You guys know that no engadget reader would dare read the Wall Street Journal.

Sneaky, sneaky...

[Kevin @ Apr 1st 2007 11:38PM]

If this is for real, then i'm buying two EMI CDs tomorrow on iTunes just out of pure support.

[Steve @ Apr 1st 2007 11:40PM]

oh my god you guys....this is the beginning of the end of DRM and you still have room to complain about bitrate right now?? there truly are some people who will never be happy.

[akijikan @ Apr 1st 2007 11:41PM]

Yeah rank him low, but you know that's what is going to happen!

[Marian @ Apr 1st 2007 11:54PM]

Finally, the Zune users can enjoy the iTunes store ;-)

[Brad @ Apr 1st 2007 11:56PM]

Step 3: Free Redownloading

I love this about eMusic. Buy tracks on your home machine, download them, then go to work and download them again.

[reefdog @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:08AM]

Because DRM makes piracy really hard right now. Really hard. And also, the artists on eMusic have all been driven to bankruptcy because of piracy. (Before anyone else does, let me make the obvious joke: "Or because no one has heard of them.")

This makes it easier to initiate sharing with other people, but it doesn't make acquiring pirated music any easier. The latter is where piracy hurts the labels, and this doesn't change it a bit.

[Joel @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:22AM]

I'm happy to see progress is being made in this area.

I was curious what artists are on EMI's label and found the list here: http://www.emigroup.com/About/Music/Default.htm. I see quite a bit of artists that will be added to my library if this is true.

[Alber1690 @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:47AM]

I bet Jobs is going to get a lot of the credit when it comes to ridding the world of DRM (if it happens), when really Gates was the first to come out with his thoughts on it.

[Dixonij @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:15AM]

Aside from being Mr. iTunes/iPod/iEtc, Jobs will probally steal the spotlight by being the one who was being the most vocal about anti-DRM around the time it started actually happening (if this starts a much needed trend).

[Michael @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:09AM]

Who cares if Jobs is given credit for ridding the world of DRM, just so long as it happens.

[Dave @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:19AM]

Pronouns don't take apostrophes: it's spelled "its". Just say it to yourself when you type it: replace "it's" with "it is"--does it work? "...sales of it is digital music"? Nope! It's "its"!

[Dan @ Apr 3rd 2007 6:17AM]

Bravo!

[typoink @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:45AM]

The end of DRM forever? Lord, I hope not. Sure, DRM is ridiculous for people who purchase MP3s -- but those of us who are addicted to subscription services NEED that DRM.

Even if MP3s were only a dime a track, I'd still exceed the $15 a month I pay for Rhapsody (or Napster).

DRM only hurts those people who don't realize that buying CDs is still the best way to purchase music, and that sub services are the best way to handle your digital needs.

[WallMan @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:01AM]

I understand how DRM can make life difficult for consumers. But isn't something needed to prevent people from pirating?

[Roy Brandon @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:29AM]

the point is NOTHING can prevent pirating, so it's better to just let us buy music that we can play however we want, and stop with all the silly shenanigans that end up frustrating us decent honest music lovers...

[ryan @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:07AM]

....is this true or isn't it? (posted on the 2nd, if you lie to me now you're just mean and deprived)

[Josh @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:07AM]

Press conference is at 1pm BST; I'm in London so will let you guys know as soon as I do - which won't be until the BBC start carrying it, but that shouldn't be too long after. All you lucky Americans will get the news when you wake up :D

[Dan F @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:02AM]

oh so i guess they teamed up with sony's rootkit software team and found a way to embed it into drm-free mp3s? gosh im evil :P im takin this with a grain of salt, but if they really do take drm out of the songs, I will definatly be purchasing any songs I want to buy from itunes. my best wishes that this happens.

[Dennis @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:52AM]

So, DRM-less AAC tracks with Apple atoms containing your iTunes account info should you decide to share them with your friends.

Which one of you donkeys is going to be the first to inadvertently find yourself sued because you thought it was your right to provide a torrent to all your new EMI music?

[Michael Schuermann @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:03AM]

It's true. Presentation slides are linked from EMI's website. DRM-free at higher quality. Being billed as a "premium" product. Same quality as currently will keep DRM. Not sure on pricing. They're hyping "interoperability" as well.

[Dixonij @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:23PM]

Exactly. I don't care if its Jimbob Carlfrank from Middleofnowhereville is credited with it, DRM needs to go away.

[voodoo @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:53AM]

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/PR-CO-20070402-902848-sIY1zurHnOoUQsT61_cFzy2RX3A_20070402.html?mod=wsjcrmain

it's out!

[Laiskumus @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:27PM]

Actually, I heard, that the bit rate was raised up to 256 kbps, so that's checked too. The bad thing is, the price was raised too to 1.29, but those, who have bought the tracks with the DRM can upgrade them for 0.30/track.

Source: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/9217.cfm

[Sam H @ Apr 4th 2007 8:30PM]

At long last the oppression is over!

[adam @ Jun 21st 2007 7:57PM]

you idiots who's going to make good quality music or movies if they cant make money of them??? will the do it for shit and giggles?? *sigh* also it's because of pirets that we are still lisening to crappy mp3 and dont argue that mp3 is good quality because the fact is your've been living with it for so long now that you THINK it is. Good quality 1 bitDSD lossles wav which is where we should have been by now but where lisening to what .. 196khz 24bit wav at best... please. In theroy adsl 2 should be capable of reasonably transfering a fle such as a dsd recorded at 2.8224 MHz yes MHZ not 44.1khz. but no one dose why?? cos it's easier to steal a 3mb mp3. a very frustrated ~adam~