Since before Napster1.0 was closed down I verbally shared with anyone that would listen what the future of music sales should be. When I buy the license to own a song, that license should not be limited to the format I bought the song in. Whether LP, cassette, CD and then later digital-rights management (DRM) digital download, I should own the right to a copy of that song ad infinitum. Considering how cheap digital download is for the publisher versus printed on a CD or other device, what I wanted (and still want) is a lifelong license with that song so I could download it again and again, as I had bought the right to the song, not just the song on that one format I bought it in. You buy the song and it’s your to do whatever you want with.

For the last two years I have gone back to buying CDs as they almost never have DRM controls on them and then I could burn it to my computer, Molly’s computer and then we could move it around to our music players, or play in the CD player in the car or house. This has been much more convenient then buying online and only being able to listen to it on devices approved by the seller or having to rip it and reinstall it over the purchased copy. I hated how iTunes would know I had bought DRM songs, but not allow me to re-download them after my harddrive crashed. Other sites offered DRM-free downloads, but had obscure libraries to chose from.

We’re still at my desired relationship of lifelong download rights, but the ability to buy downloads of popular songs that you can play and store on any digital device is here. iTunes and Amazon have both begun offering as much of their catalogs as the publishers will offer for slightly more, but without any encryption or listening-control software.

I just purchased my first DRM-free tracks from iTunes. The New Beatie Boys instrumental album and the new LCD Soundsystem. Kudos to their publishing team that chose to step forward into this brave new world of actually trusting their customers instead of treating them like a thief-in-waiting. Clever foks they are, they even get to charge a premium for getting DRM-free but it’s worth it. iTunes even offers an option to buy upgrades (their words not mine) your DRM downloads to DRM-free version I would have liked to buy the new Arctic Monkeys, but I’ll have to buy the CD for that. From here on out, however, any DRM-free album I can buy I will simply to show the publishers that this is where there customers are and thanks for trusting us.

DRMfree.org is a clever in-development service that will direct you to where you can find DRM-free downloads of the bands of your choice. The image I use above is from their site.