European Commission slaps Apple and EMI over DRM free music

[zekrahminator]

If you judge by the title of this story alone, you might think that the European Commission (EU) is punishing Apple and EMI for getting ready to offer music sans DRM's (Digital Right Management). The EU's complaint is much simpler than that. Apparently, Apple would only be applying these costs in some parts of the iTunes store. So, a song can cost less in one European country than another. This violates a very important article of the EU, and so Apple may incur a 10% fine if they do not change things soon.

For those of you curious about the shenanigans going on between EMI and Apple: The two companies have proudly announced a strategic partnership, and EMI will be sending Apple all their music without DRMs, which is a bold move. It is risky from a business standpoint, but very welcomed from a customer standpoint. Proof that EMI will be pioneering DRM free music can be found here in their press release.

Source: Reg Hardware

[Wile E]

Depending on the quality level, I may actually consider buying stuff from iTunes now. Buying just one song could prove very handy if you don't like the entire album.

[Easy Rhino]

im happy for the people who do buy their mp3s but i wont be caught dead buying music in mp3 format. i love music so i like paying for the CD and the case art.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

im happy for the people who do buy their mp3s but i wont be caught dead buying music in mp3 format. i love music so i like paying for the CD and the case art.

Just picking nits here, but iTunes doesn't sell mp3's. They sell m4a (.aac). Far superior to mp3. But aside from that, I agree with you to a point. I much prefer CDs, but the fact of the matter is, some CDs just aren't worth buying, because they only have 1 or 2 good songs on them.

[Easy Rhino]

Originally Posted by Wile E

Just picking nits here, but iTunes doesn't sell mp3's. They sell m4a (.aac). Far superior to mp3. But aside from that, I agree with you to a point. I much prefer CDs, but the fact of the matter is, some CDs just aren't worth buying, because they only have 1 or 2 good songs on them.

oh yea definately. some CDs arent worth buying so i dont buy them at all. most of the music i listen to is on smaller labels anyway so typically they allow downloading of single songs. and thanks for the mp3/m4a info. shows how much ive used itunes!

[wazzledoozle]

Itunes would need to offer at least 192 kbps aac for me to consider buying from them.

[WarEagleAU]

Equality for all is what I say.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by wazzledoozle

Itunes would need to offer at least 192 kbps aac for me to consider buying from them.

That's what it is already Waz. Well, that's what the tracks were that I downloaded some time ago, when one of the soda companies was giving away free iTunes songs under the cap

[wazzledoozle]

Originally Posted by Wile E

That's what it is already Waz. Well, that's what the tracks were that I downloaded some time ago, when one of the soda companies was giving away free iTunes songs under the cap

No, its all 128 kbps AAC. I've had a few "free itunes" caps from soda companies as well. Itunes does not offer any encoding options when you download the music.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93034

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by wazzledoozle

No, its all 128 kbps AAC. I've had a few "free itunes" caps from soda companies as well. Itunes does not offer any encoding options when you download the music.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93034

Hmmm, I wonder what the hell I was thinking of then? lol