UMI going DRM-free without iTunes
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Aug 10, 2007 at 5:53am
Universal Music Group will sell some of its catalog without the customary copy protection software for at least the next few months, reports The New York Times.
Universal, the world’s biggest music conglomerate, said it would offer albums and songs without the software, known as digital rights management, through existing digital music retail services like RealNetworks and Wal-Mart, nascent services from Amazon.com and Google, and some artists’ web sites.
But the music won’t be offered D.R.M.-free through the iTunes Store. The use of copy protection software has become a major bone of contention in the digital music business, where iTunes accounts for the vast majority of download sales, and the record labels generally have required that retailers place electronic locks to limit copying of music files, notes the Times.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
