As Mike Arrington put it, April 2nd was "the day DRM died".
The big news yesterday was that EMI will begin selling its entire catalog without DRM. Starting in May, EMI will start offering a new "premium" option - for $1.29 (30% more than the base $0.99), you get higher audio quality (encoded at 256kbps vs. 128 kbps) and no DRM. ($0.99 individual song downloads will still be available with DRM and lower bitrate). Perhaps more importantly, entire albums will still cost $9.99 but will be the higher quality, DRM-free versions, and users can "upgrade" their past purchases by paying the 30 cent differential.
Perhaps Steve Jobs wasn't lying after all. It is unlikely (perhaps moreso) that we'll get a subscription-based service for the iPod, but this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. A high quality, DRM-free album for $10 is an enticing proposition for most people who otherwise turn to piracy. Apple is working on similar deals with other labels and Jobs expects that "50% of all their tracks sold will be DRM-free by the end of the year".
Now if Apple can just fix iTunes so I can use it in Vista and purchase these albums, I'll be a happy man.
