DRM-Free Stones

7digital will make the Rolling Stones’ catalogue from 1971 on available for download in a DRM-free format – and it’s on sale.

If you’re a fan of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Co. and looking to download music, you’re in luck. Britain’s 7digital has signed a deal tomake the band’s EMI catalogue available on MP3 free of any digital rights management (DRM).   That means you can play and transfer the tracks to anycomputer or device and they will play.   That’s good news, but there’s more: for the next four weeks, all 24 albums are one sale. Each one will cost you $10.88 to download. Afterthat the price will rise to $15.73. On top of that, they’re all in a remarkably high 320 kbps.   Apple has been selling the Beatles’ albumsDRM-free through iTunes in a special agreement, available in a 256 kbps AAC encoding clarity. The tracks cost $1.29 each, as opposed to 99 cents for standDRM-controlled tracks.   The albums covered under the Stones agreement start with 1971’s classic Sticky Fingers and run through to A Bigger Bang, released two years ago. Compilations andlive discs are also included, with the exception of 40 Licks, which was a joint label venture.   “To be the first and only music download service to make high quality downloads of theRolling Stones’ tracks available is a phenomenal coup for us,” said 7digital’s managing director Ben Drury.