Apple’s final performance Tuesday at Macworld in San Francisco was expected to be a dull event lacking splashy announcements and impresario Steve Jobs--but the company dished up one last doozy: iTunes will lose digital protections on its 10 million songs.
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, started with lackluster announcements about the company’s latest Macbook Pro, iLife and iWork software. But in a fashion typical of Steve Jobs, he saved the best for last.
Apple’s iTunes on Tuesday will initially offer 8 million songs without digital rights management, he said. By the end of March, the entire iTunes store of 10 million songs will feature DRM-free tracks.
The Mac maker struck deals with major studios Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI for its iTunes Plus version that provides higher-quality, DRM-free audio tracks, a move long awaited by music fans. The company also unveiled a new pricing plan that allows songs to sell for $0.69, $0.99, or $1.29, something the studios have wanted for years.
Apple was finally able to strike the deal for DRM-free music on iTunes because it agreed to the tiered pricing plan, according to a report at CNET News.com.
iTunes users will be able to upgrade their entire music library to the new DRM-free songs, but it will cost an additional $0.30 per track to download the new versions.
There’s another boost for iTunes: The entire catalog of music will be available for purchase on iPhone 3Gs over the 3G networks.
The Cupertino, California, company also trotted out a new 17-inch Macbook Pro that will ship by the end of January for $2,799. The Mac maker claims it has produced “the world’s thinnest and lightest 17-inch notebook.” The aluminum case notebook will be fitted with an Intel Core 2 Duo chip as fast as 2.93 GHz, up to 8GB of memory, and a 320GB hard drive.
Apple also updated its iWork office productivity suite. In addition to numerous graphical changes to its functionality, the company also unveiled its beta web site version iWork.com that lets people store iWork 09 documents online.
The iconic iPod maker also introduced enhancements to its iLife 09 entertainment suite of software. The latest version brings upgrades to its iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and iWeb software. The new iPhoto will allow people to organize photos by face, using recognition software, and places, using geo-tagging.
Apple shares declined $1.56, or 1.65 percent, at $93.02 in regular trading Tuesday.