Audiobooks can be an expensive habit, so I was happy to hear our county library system had added a new digital checkout system with software that a.) was Mac and PC compatible, b.) could easily add many of the new books to the iPod, and c.) contained an iPod app allowing you to download on the go. Fantastic! Finally, we’re moving into a platform-neutral world! Er, not quite. Because while Overdrive Media Console is available for both Mac and PC software, a great deal of the content is available only as DRM protected WMA files.

If you want to know which of your ebooks are DRM free and which have been protected by copyright, have no fear; you don’t need to open each book individually to find out. Instead, a simple click on each title from within the iTunes user interface will tell you what you need to know. These simple steps will let you know if a book has DRM protections or if you’re free to share it with others.

Since the announcement of the entire iTunes Store having iTunes Plus, all songs downloaded are/will be technically compatible with all MP3 players, as iTunes Plus files do not contain DRM. Due to the removal of DRM, Norway has dropped it’s complaint against iTunes, which argued that songs downloaded from iTunes were only compatible with one player by one company, creating an unfair market.

Confirming rumors from earlier this week, Apple announced today that more songs would be available at the iTunes Store free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, and that songs would be sold at different prices.

Apple has signed deals with Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music (in addition to EMI, which started offering DRM-free music last year) to sell music without the Fairplay software which limits how many computers—and more importantly, which digital music players—songs purchased through iTunes may be used. Users will now be free to copy their music how they please, and play it on any device which supports the AAC format. Apple has faced repeated criticism (and lawsuits) about the tight relationship between the iPod and iTunes.

I’ve heard people talk about how great Amazon’s MP3 store is, and honestly, I haven’t really cared. I have two problems with it. First, call me old school, but I like physical media. Second, it’s interface isn’t as nice as iTunes. You don’t even have to leave the program that plays all of your music to find, preview and buy more with iTunes. Good news; one of those problems has been fixed by Advantageous mp3.

Advantageous mp3 is a script that you add to iTunes. When browsing the iTunes store for some great new tunes, it can help. Once you find a song you actually want to buy, just highlight it, and run the script by clicking Get MP3 From Amazon. Advantageous mp3 does the rest.

Bjorn Erik Thon, consumer Ombudsman for Norway, has announced that he is taking Apple before that country’s Market Council in an attempt to force Apple to remove the FairPlay DRM from its music. This move would allow music purchased from iTunes to be played on any digital music player.

While Apple does offer some tracks for sale (in America, at least), without DRM software, the company has stated that its contracts with the major music labels require them to protect the music from illegal copying.

DRM is still a major problem in the online music and video industry. I hate DRM, and I’m sure 99% of the people reading this agree with me – DRM sucks. The only benefit is for the record companies, so that their music cannot be shared on file sharing/BitTorrent websites. It brings the user absolutely more »