Changes Coming to the iTunes Store is the title of a recent announcement by Apple. As of the first of this year a major portion of the DRM only tracks on iTunes have been made available as iTunesPlus downloads, which is the 256kb/s DRM free version. Steve Jobs has been working toward a DRM free service for quite a while and it appears that he's actually started to pull it off. The four major music labels (Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI), along with thousands of independent labels, have all signed up for iTunesPlus.
This is great news for customers and for people who don't have or can't afford iPods, as iTunesPlus downloads can be played by any MP3 player. A few years back France decreed that all services that provide music to French citizens must ensure that the music can be played by any device that the user wishes to use. Shortly after that iTunesPlus was born and has slowly been gaining speed over the years until the explosion that occurred in the past couple of weeks.
By now you have probably guess what the boycott that I am proposing entails. It is time to let the remainder of the industry know that we want iTunesPlus type tracks and not the DRM tracks that some of the music labels are still enforcing. If you don't see the iTunesPlus symbol next to a track that you are interested in, don't buy it. Instead, send an email to the music label and let them know that you are boycotting their DRM only tracks in favor of DRM free tracks.
Let the boycott begin...
P.S. On a side note, I give my best wishes to Jobs with hopes that he fully recovers from his current medical issues. The CD saved the record industry in the 80s, and Jobs saved the industry this decade. By making individual tracks available for a reasonable price, he has allowed people like you and I to send the record industry the message, "Placing only 2 or 3 goods songs on an album along with 7 or more crappy songs is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated."
P.P.S Also, I in no way condone piracy. There is no difference between a pirate and a shoplifter. If you illegally obtain any copyrighted material, you deserve everything that the legal system brings to bare. That is all that I will say on this topic.