Ever since Apple and EMI shocked the world in April by announcing that they would sell music through the iTunes Store free from copy-protection constraints, the world has been waiting for the company’s to actually make that announcement a reality.
This might be the week, if the rumor mill has it pegged correctly. MacNN claims we’ve been going through a delay of these products, which I can’t say I noticed:
The seeming delay for introducing the new tier of content has been primarily attributed to a desire to offer the entire catalog at once in the unprotected format rather than a gradual rollout. The companies’ technicians are simply in the later stages of encoding and hosting the files before they go live, the contact says.
Not too surprising, here. After all, Apple said they would launch an offering in May — that means they’ll launch it on the last Tuesday of the month, right? Wake me up when Apple actually misses launching during the month.
DRM-free iTunes set this week? [MacNN]