Orange ditches DRM

 

Gallery

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 13 Jul 2009 at 10:54

Orange has joined the growing throng of companies freeing their music from the shackles of DRM.

As part of a "major refresh" of its Orange Music Store, the company will begin by offering 700,000 MP3 tracks with further tracks to be added in the coming months.

Accompanying the move to MP3, Orange has also announced a new pricing plan after it hammered out deals with Universal, EMI and the smaller labels. Music will now be offered in tiers, with tracks sold on the lowest tier going for 79p. We're waiting for Orange to confirm prices on the higher tiers.

Elsewhere, Orange "will also be making a further refresh to the Music Portal to continue the enhancements to the user experience." In other words it's making it easier to navigate.

"Orange is committed to providing customers with the widest access to music tracks and content," says Orange's director of products, portals, and services, Paul Jevons.

"Upgrading the Music Portal and introducing DRM-free music helps customers enjoy music how and when they want. We look forward to enhancing the DRM-free music catalogue over the coming months."

The move brings Orange in line with Vodafone and iTunes. Apple announced it was beginning its move away from DRM back in January, followed by Vodafone which took the leap in March.

We've asked Orange to confirm whether it will offer an upgrade scheme for customers who've already purchased their music under DRM, but have yet to hear back.