Well I have to say that I believe there is a simple answer to this question...iTunes Plus is a joke. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, Apple recently released Apple iTunes Plus, which is a new part of its hugely popular iTunes Music Store. They are now offering DRM-free 256kbps audio downloads for $1.29 per song, or $.30 per song or $3.00 per album to "upgrade" previously downloaded songs to the new format. The iTunes music catalog is still offering the $.99 music downloads that are encoded at 128kbps AAC-encoded files and they still have DRM copy protection.

I, however, do not see these new iTunes Plus downloads catching on for several reasons. First of all, the upgrade from 128kbps to 256kbps is certainly nothing to brag about. You won't be able to detect the difference at all when you listen to the two side-by-side. It's definitely not worth the extra $.30. Secondly, people can strip the DRM copy-protection from their current iTunes songs already without paying the extra money. People have done that for as long as iTunes has been around and always will. There simply isn't any incentive to pay the extra $.30 here and I don't know what Apple thinks they will accomplish with it. The whole idea is a dead end right from the start.

Apple should be happy for what they already have going for them and stop trying to tip toe around standing up to the RIAA and record labels and tell them that DRM is dead. I gladly pay the $.99 for songs from iTunes as long as they have what I'm looking for and if they don't, then I go about other means of getting the song. I would much rather pay the $.99 to iTunes and the artist if the song is available on iTunes. However, I wouldn't pay $1.29 for any song, anywhere because that's just too much.

I think that it's only a matter of time until DRM disappears from the face of the Earth. I read an article that had an interview with Paul Birch, who is a member of the main board of the International Federation of Phonographic Institutes (IFPI) in addition to the BPI Council and Chairs International. He said, "DRM as we know it is over. There may be Son of DRM but that’s another matter. Right now its dead, the majors are moving towards the new model." I believe that he's totally right because it's only a matter of time until the RIAA and record labels just give up quite frankly and cave to people's desires in order to survive. 

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