Ah, bittersweet news since my computer went into a coma on Sunday after I downloaded an iTunes update.

Still, I'm glad to hear it. It was the primary objection I had to iTunes.

I dunno, kind of sounds like they're making you pay extra for something that should be part of your normal rights as a consumer anyway.

DRM-free audiobooks exist! At emusic.com. The site that, for years now, has been offering DRM free MP3s.

Why pay more for iTunes when you can get the same thing from eMusic or Amazon for less money?

Ah, you said eBooks. For some reason, I always get those confused with audiobooks.

joshkidd: Last time I checked, emusic.com's audiobook selection kinda... well... sucked. Too bad, too. Seemed like a good service.

@ jramboz

making you pay extra for something that should be part of your normal rights as a consumer anyway.

I agree with this statement (which is one of the failings of the iTunes Plus program as it stands today), except that the variable pricing isn't tied to DRMed v. non DRMed tracks, as I understand it, since the stated goal is to have all 10M-plus tracks be DRM-free by the end of Q1 2009. I suspect that the variable pricing—something the labels have wanted in iTunes for a long time—was the concession that Apple had to make in order to have everything be DRM-free.

@ joshkidd
Yes, I said eBooks. I like making trouble.

@pablodefendini
Hmm, that's a good point and could very well be the case. Sadly, I'm privy to neither Apple's inner machinations nor their swimming pools full of money. :)

I personally haven't really felt all that shackled by these particular DRMs. I'm much more pleased about the quality boost.

great news, now if movie studios would realize that downloading is not the enemy !!!!
http://www.dvdnow1.com/

You could get actual publishers to actually publish, too, PD. :)

Someday they'll let us unlock/upgrade only the tracks we want. My entire collection stands at $45 to upgrade, and that's missing quite a few albums that aren't available in iTunes Plus yet. I'm guessing it'll come to $100 in the end. Half of that I have no interest in upgrading.

It'd be a fairly trivial thing to implement. It has to come, eventually. I'll continue to hold out.

@ BlueTyson:
Touché.

Yeah, on your first point - the Overdrive cancelling with Fictionwise debacle. I generally avoid the bastard variety, but I did make an exception for a Hartwell/Cramer anthology to complete a set - and now that one is stuck in that situation.

Not selling through one of the most popular shops - how does that make sense to anyone?