Ist dies das Anfang vom Ende? Nun beginnen bereits die Majors Songs als mp3, ohne DRM, zu verkaufen. Das Wall Street Journal berichtete vor ein paar Tagen, dass diese Massnahme nicht zuletzt auf die Dominanz des IPods zurückzuführen ist, der einzig Apple’s DRM oder kein DRM abspielt.

The music industry has long resisted selling music in the MP3 format, which lacks the copy protections that prevent songs from being duplicated endlessly. But now, Blue Note Records and its marquee artist, jazz-pop singer Norah Jones, are selling her latest single through Yahoo Inc. as an MP3 — despite the risk that it may add to piracy problems.

The move represents a small but significant retreat from one of the central tenets of the music industry’s digital strategy. EMI Group PLC’s Blue Note and other music companies are beginning to think they will have to sell some MP3-formatted music both to satisfy customer demand and to provide access to Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod for songs that are sold by online stores other than Apple’s iTunes Store.
Source: EMI to sell some music dowloads without DRM, By ETHAN SMITH and NICK WINGFIELD, Wall Street Journal, December 6, 2006; Page B1