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EMI leaning towards unprotected MP3 downloads?

12 February 2007 8:52 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 9 comments

It was reported late last week that EMI, one of the world's "big four" major record companies, is considering releasing a very large portion of its music for download in the MP3 format. Additionally, there would be no "technical restrictions", better known as Digital Rights Management (DRM) on the downloads. The vast majority of all music downloads sold through services like iTunes, contain DRM.

A source familiar with the situation said that EMI is preparing to offer a large amount of its music catalog in the MP3 format through various online retailers, while another source says the company is looking for large advance payments from retailers to offer unprotected downloads. Shawn Fanning's SnoCap is reportedly in talks with EMI over the matter.

An EMI spokesperson did not admit to any deals or confirm that any talks were in progress, but did say that EMI has been experimenting with the MP3 format already. "The results have been positive," the EMI spokeswoman said, adding, "lack of operability between a proliferating range of devices and hardware and the digital platforms for delivering music is more and more becoming an issue for music consumers and EMI has been engaging with our various partners to find a solution."

Source:
Reuters

Permalink to this article

EMI opts to keep DRM (26 February 2007)

UK Government backs DRM (21 February 2007)

Warner rejects Apple's DRM proposal (9 February 2007)

RIAA tells Apple to license FairPlay (8 February 2007)

Jobs: Apple would offer DRM-free downloads if allowed (7 February 2007)

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Discuss this article!
DVDdoug (Junior Member) 12 February 2007 9:47
That's great News!!! Hopefully they will try it, it will be successful, and the other companies will follow. I would even pay more! If it's $1 for a DRM song and $2 for a non-DRM version, I'd get the non-DRM version. That's one of the reasions I spend way more on CDs as I do on downloads... I've got a couple-hundred CDs and about 10 downloaded songs. [ + quote]
solarf (Member) 12 February 2007 10:48
I dont know, sounds too good to be true.But if it was DRM free, I would buy some MP3s [ + quote]
georgeluv (Member) 12 February 2007 13:24
why dont they just start their own website where you can download all the songs for free directly from EMI wile they make money from other companies advertising on their site and selling marketing data as well as placed advertisment in new songs? you know this is the way of the future, i think EMI would gain a lot of respect if they did that before everyone else, instead of dragging everything out in court for decades like the rest of the RIAA. [ + quote]
sorrow93 (Member) 12 February 2007 16:45
that would please alot of consumers. I just wish EMI would drop the copy-protection on their australian released cds it's pretty easy to beat but it's also a pest perhaps follow Sony I believe they stopped it years ago. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 12 February 2007 18:27
I think that after a certain number of years songs online should become free to use. Like a limit to how long the copyright on the song lasts. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 13 February 2007 3:14
DO they finally got it that copy protection is pointless and just wastes them profit... [ + quote]
moviegram (Junior Member) 18 February 2007 18:51
Oh what a dream! Would we finally be free of license's and license back ups and all the joyless parts of buying music? Would music finally be more fun than trouble again? I would buy the mp3 any day over a protected file; burn it to disc and then put it back on the computer as the mp3 I wanted in the first place. Over 500 cds here but sometimes... you just want the one song. "Hang on, help is on its way"... What music label has the Little River Band, lol? [ + quote]
blitzman (Newbie) 19 February 2007 6:04
Why MP3? What a cack format. I want FLAC!!! [ + quote]
moviegram (Junior Member) 19 February 2007 9:46
That sort of made me curious... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC It looks good. [ + quote]