Amazon’s Pledge To Be DRM-Free

DRM isn’t so much a product of Web 2.0 as it is its nemesis. Web 2.0 is very much an open space. DRM is very, very closed. That alone should be reason enough to send cumbersome copy protection off to the gallows.

Which Amazon pledges to do. (Pardon the terrible opener and subsequent segway.)

Today in the news: The largest of online retail giants intends to offer only DRM-free music downloads. Big story. Perhaps even more so than Apple’s recent announcement that it would soon begin offering EMI recordings as premium-priced 256kbps-quality DRM-free tracks (and would very much like to see the remaining three big recording industry companies unbind their products as well).

I consider it bigger news because, to put it simply, Amazon promises to offer a complete “digital music store later this year featuring music downloads without copyright restrictions.” Apple doesn’t. At least not yet.

They will. All online digital music stores will. Those that do not will disappear. But we’ve only spoken of official statements and press releases thus far, and in this particular race Amazon has taken the lead. No, Amazon isn’t the premier destination for digital downloads today. Apple is. That’s why the Apple-EMI venture created a bigger splash. Buzz over the decision is still being talked about, weeks after headlines announcing both entities’ decisions graced the pages of the world’s major papers (and many mid-tier and minor, too). But if we’re to work only off of words written up to now, we see Amazon at the forefront.

Apple of course won’t allow Amazon to subvert its dominance over the digital download market, and is most likely already in serious negotiations with the major labels to make the shift to DRM-free tunes in each and every nook and cranny of the iTunes Store. Which is great. Hey, if it takes the heat generated by the Amazon announcement to make Apple and it’s partners in the recording industry sit up and start signing papers, so be it.

As of right now, however, I’m rooting more strongly for Amazon and the 12,000+ record labels it has announced are on board its own digital download project. And even diehard iTunes fans should do so too. Competition only betters their chances at getting a better service out of Jobs & Co. You all don’t want Apple to get lazy, do you? Of course, here’s to hoping Amazon’s service itself (the UI, the selection, etc.) can stand tall beside the benchmark of the biz.