"Jessica Simpson's A Public Affair went on sale this week at Yahoo Music, and unlike every digital song sold on competitors Apple iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody, it is compatible with all portable music players. The song is in the open MP3 format and can be transferred to an Apple iPod or players by Creative, Samsung and others," says USA Today.
Unfortunately this is probably not the start of a trend:
Sony BMG played down the significance of the release. The song, on Yahoo, is "personalized" -- there are 500 versions, each including a different first name, from Aaron to Zach, that consumers can search for. The label says it would have been too complicated to release all 500 with DRM.
Yahoo thinks it could wipe out iTunes and become the top online music store just by selling tracks in unprotected MP3 format, like eMusic and AllOfMP3.com:
"As you know, we've been publicly trying to convince record labels that they should be selling MP3s for a while now," [wrote Ian Rogers, who runs Yahoo Music]. "Our position is simple: DRM doesn't add any value for the artist, label ... or consumer. The only people it adds value to are the technology companies who are interested in locking consumers to a particular technology platform."
But don't hold your breath....
