Apple will peddle the DRM-free tunes and albums for $1.29 a pop, 30 cents more than its FairPlay-encumbered wares, and as a an enticement collectors will get higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding. Upgrades will cost the 30-cent difference.

Jobs is trying to sell the same deal to the other labels on the theory that CDs don't have DRM so why should digital music. He figures half of the five million songs on iTunes will be DRM-free by the end of the year.

It's assumed more digital downloads will offset crashing CD sales. Whether it does anything to address the wholesale theft that's been going on remains to be seen.

Apple theoretically sells more of the music going on to iPods out of the deal and gets to stick a sock in the mouth of those Apple-critical Europeans in France, Germany, Holland and Norway who have been complaining about the iTunes-iPod lock-in and telling Apple to open up or get fined. The DRM-less music will supposedly play on anybody's MP3 player.

However, no sooner was the DRM-free news out than the European Commission moved on a gripe it's had stewing for the last two years.

It's opened an antitrust investigation of Apple and the major record companies alleging that iTunes violates European competition rules because people can only download songs from the iTunes shop in the country where they live.

Apple in turn claimed that's the way the music companies want it and wouldn't give Apple rights to run a pan-European store like Apple wanted. As it happens, download prices are different in different countries - just like old-fashioned records were (a regulation opportunity the EC missed) - and consumers can't shop around.

Apple has two months to answer the EC's Statement of Objections. Could mean fines but the EC's spokesman indicated that the agency views the record companies as the real heavies with Apple their victim.

So besides Apple, EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony BMG were also brought up on charges.

Anyhow, Apple's new DRM-free tracks are supposed to be available in May.

So far iTunes has sold two billion songs, 50 million TV shows and 1.3 million movies.