"DRM is dead," bloggers trumpeted, as it emerged that Apple will sell tracks from EMI, the UK label, free of the controversial anti-piracy software.

Others agreed that this was a very big day for iTunes, Apple's dominant online music and the wider digital world. "It is the first real sign that [Steve Jobs'] call in February for record companies to abolish DRM, was more than just PR bluster, the readwriteweb site said - elevating the move to coup status.

"You have to hand it to Steve," it implored.

"His February open letter to record companies can now be seen as a masterstroke of strategy - positioning Apple as 'the good guys' in the digital music industry and giving EMI Music a golden opportunity to take the DRM-free initiative, with Apple holding its hand.

"It's win-win of course for both companies - Apple reinforces its dominance and gets DRM-free music, while EMI (which had been publicly struggling to compete with the other big record companies) gets to be seen as a leader in the digital music business."

But for how long EMI will have the free-of-DRM crown to itself is debatable, techcrunch.com said.

"Jobs says they are trying to do similar deals with other labels, and expects that 50 per cent of all of their tracks sold will be DRM free by end of year," it reported.

Others suggested that the iPod's lead in the digital player market, coupled with iTunes dominance, is enough to keep Apple ahead - regardless of the DRM debate.

"While [ditching DRM] may seem like a concession from Apple, in reality iPod/iTunes is so dominant (85 per cent of the market last time I checked) that this will have minimal impact," readwriteweb said.

"And long-term, people will still flock to use iPods and iTunes - just as people still flock to use Windows PCs."

Meanwhile, Chron.com noted that iTunes users who opt to go DRM-free will have to pay a premium for the priviledge - and wondered just how many technophobes will care enough to shell out.

"I hate DRM as much as the next guy, but how much is that really? I worry that there's a huge silent majority out there who don't care one way or the other about DRM or bit rates ... Both the 99-cent DRM tunes and the $1.29 DRM-free tunes will be for sale side-by-side.

"What happens if the average podder doesn't want to spend the extra thirty cents for the DRM-less songs? Will EMI pull the DRM-less versions off the market next year if they're not selling? It could happen."

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