The reasons weren't elaborated on, but I'm guessing Nokia is still straightening out deals with U.S carriers. It's also interesting that the news comes right after Apple officially sent out invites for its September 9 event that willl likely include new iPods and an update to iTunes.

Sorry Fin fans, you'll just have to wait. [Forbes]

That's right. They won't let you choose which stuff you can upgrade. This has been reported already, at least by this guy—and I suppose it's not new news given the fact that they've done upgrades since EMI went DRM-free a while back—but the scope is much greater now that all the labels are on board. After returning from a week of Macworld and CES to the comforts of home, the impact of this has hit me, like the baseball bat I took on the cheekbone back in 1993.

You're snickering. Not about the baseball bat (I hope), but about the whole spending-money-on-iTunes thing. Yep, I am a recovered iTunes DRM-music-buying addict. I still pay for music, but now Amazon is the legitimate source of all my thankfully DRM-free impulse buys.

Last Tuesday's announcement that iTunes would go DRM-free was good news in several ways: Not only might iTunes win me back as a customer, but I also would be able to upgrade the best stuff I bought over the years, so I could have it in high quality, playable not just on my Apple (TM) products, but also on Sonos or BlackBerry or any other fun music-savvy device that comes in and out of my house.

So I clicked "Upgrade To iTunes Plus" and I got a gun to my face saying "$250 or else."

Seriously, they want $250—actually, they want $250.06 but what's a few pennies between lifelong friends?—to upgrade the 1,000+ songs I've bought over the years. That would mean that all those albums I paid $9.99 for would actually cost me $13 in the end. That's the same amount the damn CD would have cost me in the first place, if I still bought those museum pieces. And the CD would have given me the option to rip at higher quality than 256Kbps, and would come with liner notes telling me who played that sick drum solo on Track 12, to boot.

The clincher was this: When I went to click on just the albums I really wanted to update, the "upgrade" price was... full price. WHA?? I clicked on the FAQ, and this is what I saw:

I remembered a similar bulk upgrade offer before, when it was just EMI's content, but as you can imagine, the price they wanted for that was less scary. I must've paid it (probably under the influence of alcohol). I haven't caved this time—not yet at least. I'd be faced with having to explain a $250 iTunes charge to the wife without getting any new music, movies or music videos to show for it. She's a cool person and all, but I wouldn't escape that conversation without some kind of half-accusatory, half-pitying "Oh babe."

Do you see what you're doing to me and to my family, iTunes? I guess you do: You are only the monster the music industry has made you for screwing with their decades-long con. Amazon definitely got the better deal, most likely for appearing harmless—no doubt their inevitable contract renegotiation will be a bitch and a half.

And to those of you out there who steal music instead of buying it, well, frankly, I can totally see why. [iTunes What's New]

The company is purportedly hoping to announce its all-you-can-eat music product before the end of September, with a launch date in Europe before Christmas. Right now, Walkman phones function on a pay-per-track business model, with roughly 5 million un-DRM-ed songs available. If its unlimited service is similarly DRM-free, it might have a chance at one-upping Nokia's Comes With Music buffet after all. One can only hope. [Financial Times]

Naturally, the fan sped home and put them on YouTube, meaning by now you can find them at all of the usual online venues. The leaked songs include the album's title track, apparently called "No Line On The Horizon" (puke) and the first single, "Sexy Boots." Of course, the bootlegs probably sound like they were recorded inside Bono's ass, but let this be a lesson to Bono about forcing your music upon the world. Someone will steal it and give it away, even if it's not very good. [The Sun via Torrent Freak]

Amazon MP3 has the only digital music catalogue that offers DRM-free tunes from all four major labels, with around 3.3 million tracks in the library, they are packing some weight. If that fact doesn't have Apple quaking in their boots, the competitive pricing should. We couldn't care less how Amazon and Apple get down and dirty, but as they are bound to be set for a fight, teeth gnashing and all, it can only mean good things for customers. DRM-free music will have a bigger global presence, and that should solidify its worth in the consumer market. Also, the ensuing price war is not going to be too bad either. After all, iTunes surely cannot keep their offerings priced above the competition, whilst simultaneously offering DRM gimped and comparatively expensive ($1.29), DRM-free tracks. It's about to get interesting—watch this space. [Amazon]

Monday, in fact, is the day the service goes live, and we cannot hold our wee we're so excited. Initially, only Windows Vista and XP will be supported, but the Macboys and girls see some action on March 18th.

The system will work by tracking all downloads, royalties will then be issued accordingly. It isn't too clear how that revenue will be generated, but expect some anal advertising to bombard a PC near you if you do give it a whirl. Still, we can't help our cynical judgement chiming in—how did Noah get two of every species on a wooden boat? He didn't—do you know what I mean? Nevertheless, we wait and hope for a legal, free, P2P music service, but we think eternal world peace is a little more likely by Monday. [Boy Genius Reports]

Of course, the sleazy grandma-suing record companies will blame pirates for poor sales, which is much easier than actually signing competent artists who don't crank out shitty music year after year. Most of the steaming heap is not even worth stealing. – Charlie White

Digital sales boost music industry [Variety]

Amazon is already in a good position to develop a music service because it already has 55 million customer accounts, and these users are already set to seamlessly buy music with a single click. The company has been preparing for this new service, hiring 3,000 people to work on digital content initiatives over the past year.

Another likely aspect of the Amazon service would be a subscription business model, where its digital music player would be offered for free or at a low price. Amazon would also use the information about what its customers have previously purchased to preload these players with music. Pricing is expected to be competitive with other subscription services—around $15 a month.

Amazon Plans Music Service To Rival iPod [The Wall Street Journal via Tech Dirt]