EMI goes DRM-free - not just on iTunes

Music label EMI is letting more music stores have access to its catalog without using DRM. PassAlong Networks, which provides technology to power online stores like the one belonging to f.y.e., yesterday secured a license to EMI's music, as did the UK's 7digital. Both companies plan to sell the music at higher bit rates than the iTunes Store.

While iTunes encodes non-DRMed music at 256 Kbps, both of the new licensees have opted to go even higher—320 Kbps. Apple uses AAC, while the new services will sell the tunes as MP3 files, so bitrates aren't directly comparable.