Play.com Offer Big Four Labels DRM-free

'...and with new albums like Keane's Perfect Symmetry going for £7.25 with individual songs just £70p apiece it makes a strong pull for our hearts and minds'.

But with 7Digital selling the aforementioned Keane wailathon for only £5, it has less of a pull than sugested.

Apple REALLY need to start taking the competition seriously now. iTunes 8 adds the Genius bar, which makes it very convenient to buy from the iTunes store. However, the DRM tracks are STILL only 128kbps, which is not acceptable now, especially when 7Digital and now Play are offering over double that for the same price, if not cheaper.

'...and with new albums like Keane's Perfect Symmetry going for £7.25 with individual songs just 70p apiece it makes a strong pull for our hearts and minds'.

And with physical CDs going for only a small premium (£7.99 from cd-wow) which you can legally rip for personal use at any bit rate you desire (I'm sticking to that - I know all the convoluted legal/moral arguments both ways but that is where IMHO I end up on balance & certainly morally at any rate) then I think this market has a way to go before it convinces me.

@Moche - standard price on 7digital for an album seems to be £7.99 - but yes they are selling a bunch at a cutdown £5 apiece (including Keane's latest); but then I guess you should always search around for the best price on any particular item at any particular time.

"However, the DRM tracks are STILL only 128kbps, which is not acceptable now, especially when 7Digital and now Play are offering over double that for the same price, if not cheaper."

Yes, I suppose the Record labels want to encourage a bit of competition. If iTunes offered DRM-free tracks from all the major labels, then I suppose they'd have even more of a stranglehold on the digital download market. But, in the end, it's us consumers (and iPod owners) who suffer because of this.