Beatles catalog excluded from DRM deal

Despite the enormity of the DRM deal between EMI Group (LON: EMI) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), it seems that whenever The Beatles catalog is released to digital stores, it will still feature DRM (see Wired News). Although no news relating to that move appears soon in any calendar and yesterday's hopes for an announcement proved wrong, the DRM free move by EMI seems to be an improvement for consumers. Unfortunately, on iTunes at least, the price for these new mp3's will be higher than the standard DRM song.

Apple and EMI plan to launch the songs in May, but I've seen DRM-free high quality songs available already on other digital sites (I bought one yesterday from 7digital.com). Coincidentally, those songs are by the group that played a short set at the announcement yesterday, Damon Albarn's The Good, the Bad and the Queen. The prices were not any higher either, so if Apple plans to keep the prices on iTunes the same then they may need to bring the price down (the mp3 I downloaded from another service easily transferred to my iPod through iTunes).

If the price ends up being higher on iTunes, the option to shop elsewhere will still exist, and for U.S. consumers I am still unsure about how the deal affects the American market, if it does at all. All in all, this move by EMI and Apple seems to be a very good one, at least as far as it can be in two days and with limited product available (not even on iTunes).