Apple drops price of DRM-free music

Feeling the pressure of new rival Amazon, Apple has decided to drop the price of it's DRM-free music from $1.29 to $0.99, bringing it's prices in line with the competitors offering. In this Globe and Mail article an Apple spokeswoman is quoted as saying "It's been very popular with our customers and we're now making it available at an even more affordable price,". While they may deny that the move is motivated by competition, it's hard to ignore the fact that the music industry is in flux and with more competition and bands going it alone, it will be interesting to see what happens over the next little while.

Amazon launches public beta of Amazon MP3 music service

Amazon announced today that it launched a public beta of it's new Amazon MP3 service. "Amazon MP3 is an all-MP3, DRM-free catalog of a la carte music from major labels and independent labels, playable on any device, in high-quality audio, at low prices," said Bill Carr, Vice President for Digital Music at Amazon.com. Making the music available DRM-free, "... means that Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, including PCs, Macs(TM), iPods(TM), Zunes(TM), Zens(TM), iPhones(TM), RAZRs(TM), and BlackBerrys(TM); organize their music using any music management application such as iTunes(TM) or Windows Media Player(TM); and burn songs to CDs.", according to the press release. Most of the services catalog of 2 million songs are available for download at 89 cents to 99 cents with albums ranging from $5.99 to $9.99. It's a nice compliment to Amazon's online CD sales.