Apple is expected to make an official announcement Wednesday that they have dropped the price of digital rights management (DRM) free iTunes Plus tracks. Instead of $1.29, the tracks will cost the same as standard songs with DRM: 99 cents.

Seemingly this move is in response to Amazon’s launch of its DRM-free music store that sells 256kbps MP3s for between 89 cents to 99 cents each.

Although the iTunes Plus songs were individually $1.29, Apple usually sold full iTunes Plus albums at the same price as their DRM counterpart. Not only is Apple expected to drop the price of iTunes Plus tracks, they have also promised bulking up its DRM-free offering with more independent labels.

“iTunes Plus has been incredibly popular with our customers, and now we’re making it available at an even more affordable price,” Tom Neumayr, senior manager for iPods, Apple TV and iTunes, said in a statement. “We’re adding over 2 million tracks from key independent labels, in addition to EMI’s digital catalog, and look forward to even more labels and artists making their music available on iTunes Plus.”

Earlier this year, Apple jump-started the DRM-free trend when it started selling unprotected songs through iTunes Plus. DRM-free tracks from EMI’s catalog sold for $1.29 and were encoded at a higher 256kbps quality AAC. Jumping right into the competition, Amazon launched its own music store three weeks ago, offering DRM-free tracks from independent labels, EMI and, much to Apple’s chagrin, Universal priced from 89 cents to 99 cents.

The big question is if upgrading a previously purchased DRMed song will still be available, or if the consumer will now be forced to repurchase tracks at the new 99 cent rate to get the DRM-free track.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 4:54 pm under Apple.

Read more entries by Ema Kwiatkowski.
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