DRM-free music from Play.com

You can now download music in MP3 format free of digital rights management (DRM) technology from Play.com.

The online retailer is taking on more established services such as iTunes in the digital download market. However, it only has one of the four major record labels - EMI - on board to provide DRM-free music.

The top 100 tracks are available from 65p per track compared to iTunes' 79p, and albums will cost from £4.95.

Wendy Snowdon, head of PlayDigital, said: "We're delighted to be the first UK retailer to market with a DRM-free MP3 Music Download Store. It’s an exciting development for Play.com to be leading the way with such a service ahead of the obvious competition."

Despite Snowdon's claims, though, 7Digital has in fact been offering DRM-free MP3 files for download since April 2007 in the UK. iTunes also offers DRM-free MP3s from EMI.

Universal Music, another member of the 'big four' record labels, is also experimenting with DRM-free downloads.

Snowdon predicted that DRM-free digital music was likely to become much more popular in the future.

"This new innovation is a result of customer demand to have access to instant downloads, however and whenever they wish to consume music. It is only a matter of time before the other labels embrace this, as it is what the music fans want," she said.

www.play.com
www.7digital.com
www.apple.com/itunes