So I'm sitting at my computer late at night waiting for a download to finish, I start browsing around my regular blog feeds and then what do I come across? It appears Mr Cult himself, Steve Jobs, is in the news in a live blogging by Engadget.

It appears that Steve Jobs is at an event where EMI is announcing that they will be the first label to launch DRM free music. Not only that, they will also be increasing the quality of the music from 192kbps to 256kbps. Oh those saints, how wonderful they are, offering us mere mortals this service out of the kindness of there hearts...

Not so; It appears that you will have to pay an extra US$0.30 per song for the removal of the DRM. But at least its an increased audio quality right? Hmm, dunno about you, but I certainly won't be able to tell the difference in the audio quality. So for most people it will just be an increased cost for DRM free music... you will be paying more for something that should be a given? Screw that for a joke.

But isn't it wonderful that Apple would be willing at all to give there consumers the ability to use their purchased music on a non-Apple Device? Aren't they concerned that they will lose business? Of course not, the DRM has done it's job; iTunes users have an iPod and will continue to buy newer iPods, they will continue to spread the iDease that Apple has become. Apple has nothing to lose from this move and to top it off they come out looking like saints for pushing for the removal of the DRM that they implemented in the first place.

Update: It appears that standard iTunes music is a scoffable 128kbps not 196kbps. Although I could definitely tell the difference in the sound quality from 128kbps I still stand by the fact that charging more for a music that should already be higher quality than 128kbps and should also already be DRM free is just not on!