Our sister blog Download Squad (She's the one who spends far too much time in front of the Internet) tipped me to the fact that Yahoo Music is offering a DRM free download for the very first time. Don't get too excited. It's only Jessica Simpson, it's only one song, and it's $2 a throw but, it's a real honest to god mp3 capable of being played on just about any portable player.
Yahoo's Y! Music Blog makes the anti-DRM case, "As you know, we've been publicly trying to convince record labels that they should be selling MP3s for a while now. Our position is simple: DRM doesn't add any value for the artist, label (who are selling DRM-free music every day - the Compact Disc), or consumer, the only people it adds value to are the technology companies who are interested in locking consumers to a particular technology platform."
They have great points. Yahoo is big, but the sphere of influence they carry in the digital music space probably isn't enough to have the labels go DRM free all on its own. The very public addition of Yahoo Music to the anti-DRM chorus is nevertheless a score for our side.
I'm not a Jessica Simpson fan, not even in the slightest. Still, I'm thinking my $2 might be a good vote for a DRM free future.
