The press conference finally got underway. The press release has been made available alongwith the slides (pdf file), which are also been posted here.
Some of the key notes are:
- EMI will offer all songs from its catalog DRM free.
- EMI´s testing shows people prefer Non DRM to DRM 10:1
- iTunes is the first Partner, and songs on iTunes and iPod can now be played on any device that could play AAC format.
- Songs will be encoded in 256kbs AAC and offered for sale at $1.29 per song, current pricing is $0.99 per song
- Album prices will remain same, but the audio quality will be higher.
- EMI music videos will get the same DRM free make over
- Customers who have already purchased tracks can upgrade to DRM free ones for additional $0.30 per track
- Jobs: 50% of all tracks sold will be DRM free by year end
Techcrunch is also reporting it in real time.
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