A whole new world

Bowing to pressure from the record industry — as well as cheaper, DRM-free rivals like Amazon.com and Napster — Apple introduced elasticity to the price of iTunes music.

Prior to its announcement at MacWorld yesterday, all iTunes tracks were available for $0.99, with CDs typically running between $9.99 and $12.99. Based on unspecified criteria (probably having to do with the song's popularity or record label status), individual music tracks will now be available for $0.69, $0.99 or $1.29.

Under its "iTunes Plus" program, Apple also said all music would be sold without digital rights management (DRM) — that is, iTunes music buyers won't suffer track playability limited only to iPod/iTunes products, and will be able to share and listen to their tracks as they please.

In the past, Apple offered DRM-free music in limited quantities for $1.29 per track — $0.30 more than DRM-protected music. It dropped the additional charge in late 2007.

To update their collections to the DRM-free format, users must pay an additional $0.30 per track. At present, only eight million of the 10 million songs available on iTunes are eligible for the upgrade. The other two million will be incorporated by April.

Finally, Apple announced that iPhone 3G and other 3G-compatible device users can download full-quality, DRM-free music directly to their mobile devices. From the iTunes store app, they can access, preview and download audio content at leisure.

Such music will be transferred to the user's computer next time they connect it to their mobile devices.

In April, an Ipsos report found 82% of US-based downloaders are aware of iTunes, with one-third prioritizing the brand over other music downloading sites. That same period, Forrester projected sales of digital music will surpass those of CD sales as soon as 2012.