DRM Dominos
And just as I've always predicted, DRM schemes are falling apart left and right. In April, Apple's iTunes became the first to offer DRM-less mp3s from a major label (EMI). They offered those clean mp3s at higher quality, for $1.29 per song instead of their traditional $0.99. Amazon announced in May their new DRM-less mp3 store, which launched in beta form about a week ago (also with EMI being a primary partner). Prices there range (for the most part) from $0.89 to $0.99, although Amazon doesn't seem to offer the quality jump, but that's okay. This is how online downloads should be done. After all, it is less value for a lower price — no physical item, lower quality, no liner notes. No ridiculous crap like paying more for DRMed versions.
Microsoft's Zune Marketplace will offer about 1/3 of their songs in DRM-less format. Amazon has an entirely DRM-less mp3 store. Apple offers higher-quality DRM-less versions of much of their stock. I'm sure there are others that I haven't noted or noticed. DRM schemes are falling like flies. Now we just have to wait for the rest of the industry to catch up.
Next step: decriminalize "piracy".