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Just An Online Minute... Amazon Takes Bite Out Of Apple

Online retailer Amazon is poised to take on Apple's iTunes store with a new music download service that will sell tracks without the digital rights management restrictions that aim to prevent people from copying the music they've purchased.

The new service is set to launch with tracks from EMI, with a roster of musicians including the Rolling Stones and Coldplay, and independent labels.

Amazon has long sold hard copies of CDs, and last September began selling digital movie and TV show downloads, but the upcoming service will mark Amazon's first major effort to compete with Apple in the music space.

The move won't necessarily give Amazon a huge advantage, however, because Apple itself is scheduled to start selling DRM-free tracks from EMI later this month.

Still, EMI's concession indicates that at least one music industry giant is backing off its insistence that digital music come with built-in restrictions that make it hard (though not impossible) for consumers to copy the tracks they've purchased.

And it's about time. People have long assumed that once they own something -- whether a music CD, movie or even book -- they're free to take it with them wherever they go or lend it to other people. There's no reason that this principle shouldn't apply to content that's downloaded.

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