Sony Caves in on DRM for Digital Downloads

Sony BMG has announced that it, too, will sell it's music without DRM technology, thus joining the other three major labels in offering truly portable music playable on any MP3 player.  No one would have thought this possible a year ago as the labels pointedly dug their heels in on this issue.  But with Steve Job's open letter on music and DRM pushing the discussion, and EMI later going along with the idea of high quality tracks with no restrictions nudged the rest of the industry along in the same direction.  And consumers are better off for it.  The labels are as well, as no viable competitor to iTunes would likely emerge with significant DRM restrictions in place.  All they seemed to do was to drive more traffic to Apple, not that Steve Jobs minded that.  It's possible, now, that the Amazon store may become a viable competitor to iTunes along with other online outlets.  The fortunes of the music industry may be on the rise over this.

Details are in Business Week.