DRM on iTunes

As of Janurary of 2009, Apple upgraded almost 90% of their ten million track catalog to what was formerly known as iTunes Plus, meaning that the songs sold are now all encoded at a 256-kpbs bit rate. This also means that all your tracks now come free of digital rights management (DRM), meaning you can share your music on as many computers as you'd like. The change came when three of the biggest record labels in the music industry - Sony BMG, Warner Music, and Universal - agreed to allow iTunes to sell their songs without the restriction of DRM. iTunes Plus, which is now the standard, is also available for the rest of your library for upgrading at a cost of thirty cents per track and 30% of the cost of the album.

This new policy comes with a catch - songs are now sold at varying prices, either $0.69, $0.99, or $1.29, depending on the record label.  Usually, the songs that are purchased more often are more likely to be sold at the $1.29 level, while vintage or less popular songs will be pushed down to $0.69 (it is believed that more songs will be sold at the latter price than the former.) On the whole, the new iTunes format presents a big change in the way music is sold and shared, while retaining a familiar interface for users.


http://www.macworld.com/article/138000/2009/01/drm_faq.html

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