May 30 2007
Apple launches iTunes Plus
Yesterday’s iTunes update should have tipped us off that this was coming.
Apple today launched iTunes Plus — DRM-free music tracks featuring high quality 256kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings — for just USD$1.29 per song. iTunes Plus is launching with EMI’s digital catalog of outstanding recordings, including singles and albums from Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane and more than a dozen of Paul McCartney’s classic albums available on iTunes for the first time.
iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today — 128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM — at the same price of USD$0.99 per song, alongside the higher quality iTunes Plus versions when available. In addition, iTunes customers can now easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to iTunes Plus tracks for just 30 cents a song and USD$3.00 for most albums.
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