Good News, Bad News
Good News from Apple:
….. a licensing deal with EMI Music announced on Monday could mark the beginning of major changes in the music industry’s use of copyright-protection software.
The agreement paves the way for EMI to offer its entire digital music catalog free of digital rights management controls on Apple’s iTunes music store.
….. Apple will now set up a two-tier pricing structure on iTunes that would offer DRM-protected tracks for 99 cents a piece, and non-restricted tunes for $1.29 each. The latter would also be available at a higher audio quality of 256-Kbps AAC encoding, which is indistinguishable from the original CD recording, according to Apple.
Bad News:
The most notable exception to the contract is the Beatles catalogue of recordings — a long sought-after prize by Apple’s chairman and chief executive.
