Amazon also working working on DRM-free music store?

The TimesOnline is reporting that Amazon may be the latest company planning to launch an online music store to compete against Apple. Amazon has apparently been talking to the major music studios to convince them to offer their music catalogs as DRM-free downloads. Amazon wants to launch its new store in May and if so, may need to go ahead only with EMI and independent labels as the other labels don’t seem to be quite so ready to embrace the demise of DRM just yet.

EMI’s decision to sell DRM-free music on iTunes and other music stores caused quite a few waves as many saw this as their opportunity to make a dent in Apple’s dominance in the online music market space. The hope is that DRM-free music will eliminate the lack of interoperability between players and online stores and spur greater adoption of online purchasing (especially as CD sales continue to collapse).

Unlike Apple which plans to offer its DRM-free songs in the AAC format, Amazon plans to offer them in MP3 format (bitrate unknown at this time).

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