If I want DRM-free, high-resolution music, I can enjoy a crystal-clear digital presentation simpmly by purchasing a compact disc from my local music store. Meanwhile, in order to provide high-rez, DRM-music from EMI artists, Apple has capitulated to the whiny demands of a music label that online music be increased in price. The labels have been whining about the 99 cent price point since day one, and now, for 30 cents more, you can get DRM-free singles from the iTunes Store. Whoop. Tee. Doo.

Here’s why this is a classic shafting of the consumer. See, for $15, you can buy the compact disc. How many songs on the typical pop album? About 12, typically. At 99 cents per single, the cost of an album on iTunes is $12.00, saving you three bucks. Now then, at $1.29 per single, the new cost of EMI DRM-free music on iTunes, that same album will cost you $15.60. Now, for sixty cents more than the compact disc (and 3.60 more than the DRM’d version), I’ll choose the compact disc. Seriously, the extra 60 cents isn’t worth the “quality” improvement purported by Apple and EMI for the so-called premium bitrate. Plus, you don’t get the built-in backup of the disc, you don’t get the nice jewel case, and you don’t get the nice 4-color booklet. Sure, you gotta drive to the music store. But hey, that’s not so bad, especially if there’s a Chipotle nearby.
So, when you boil it all down, if you buy the DRM-free EMI tracks for a buck twenty-nine, you’re really just PAYING MORE. The cost of production doesn’t increase just because the tracks are DRM-free, no matter how high the resolution. It simply doesn’t cost a penny more to produce a DRM-free track than it does to produce a DRM’d one. So the profit on a particular cut goes up without a corresponding increase in cost. Winner: EMI. Loser: You. Which is exactly what the self-infatuated major labels have wanted since day one. Steve, you lost this round buddy.