iTimes with Tony Bove

The new iTunes Plus portion of the online iTunes Store is now available, offering higher-priced, higher-quality, DRM-free songs and albums you can play on any device and copy endlessly. And as of one day after it was announced, boomers rule.

So you want to upgrade EMI-labeled music you purchased from iTunes to the higher-sonic-quality versions without copy protection (when they become available in iTunes next month)? If you’re a Mac user, you can use this tip. Otherwise, watch this space for future enhancements to iTunes.

Apple has taken a sad song — the copy restrictions on its music — and made it better by removing the Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection for its high-quality music format in a deal with record giant EMI.

Rumors about Apple are swirling a week after Steve Jobs’ open letter to the music industry (for an excellent summary of reactions, see Engadget’s “DRM: the state of disrepair” by Thomas Ricker). But several developments warrant particular attention:
1. Apple is patenting wireless docking. According to AppleInsider, Apple is developing a dock connector for handheld gadgets […]

Steve Jobs has put the music industry labels on notice about Digital Rights Management (DRM). It may just be the right time for Steve to speak out — from a position of strength.