Digital rights groups have reacted with cautious optimism after EMI announced that it had struck a deal with Apple to distribute its titles in the iTunes Music Store without digital rights management (DRM) technology.  

"Certainly this is a step in the right direction," Derek Slater, activism coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told vnunet.com. "It is long past time that the record labels opened up." 

Under the deal, Apple will sell EMI titles free of Apple's FairPlay copy protection software for $1.29 (99p in the UK).

The DRM-free songs are 25 to 30 per cent more expensive than protected iTunes content, based on the UK and US pricing respectively.

To make up for the higher price the music will be offered at a 256Kbps bit rate, up from the 128Kbps for protected iTunes content.

Users will be able to move the songs to third-party devices and music players, rather than being locked into using iTunes or an iPod with the Fair Play DRM.

Defective By Design blogger Gregory Heller called the deal "groundbreaking". 

Heller was planning to send a jester's hat to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, along with a petition containing 6,000 signatures protesting against FairPlay, when news of the deal with EMI broke.  

"It's a good thing we didn't send the jester's hat," wrote Heller. "I guess we'll be sending a thank-you letter with the open letter and over 6,000 signatures."

Slater warned, however, that the battle between consumer groups and music distributors is far from over.

The activist expects that the offering will appeal to early adopters, but that the higher price will put the content out of reach for regular consumers. "I think overall the price point is too high for most consumers," he said.