According to CNET, Apple announced yesterday that they will be removing DRM copy-protection from their entire ITunes store catalogue.

This means that you will be able to purchase music from ITunes, and listen to it on any MP3 player, essentially decoupling ITunes from the IPOD, and making the store available to non IPOD users.

Since I firmly believe that the only future for the music industry is to make it cheaper and easier to legally obtain music than to obtain it illegally, I think that this is a major move in the right direction.

The pricing of music will change, whereby current chart songs will be more expensive and the majority of the catalogue will reduce to 79c per song (the price has been $1 since they start trading about 5 years ago). I am convinced that this is only the first step, and that we can expect further price reductions.

Now, if only Apple will open up the store to users in South Africa…