The first crack in the DRM’ed content wall!

EMI, the smallest of the ‘big four’ labels, have inked a deal with Apple to offer tracks via the iTunes music store without copy protection.

This is H U G E!

Assuming they don’t pull some other shinagins this means that you’ll be able to download tracks into iTunes and then move them between computers, iPods, burn to CD, etc. without limitation.  You’ll still likely have to convert the tracks to MP3 if you want to play it on some portable device other than an iPod but that’s a small inconvenience.

Hurray to EMI!

EMI-Apple pen deal to sell songs – CNN.com