Today Big Four record label EMI announced that it will go where no label has gone before it and lift the DRM (digital rights management) copy-protection anti-piracy system currently in place on the label’s online catalogue. The first retail outlet to feature this new distribution system will be iTunes, but eventually the service will be available everywhere. So how will it work and will it impact you?

Consumers will be getting tracks that improve upon the ones available now in two ways: They sound better and you can play them as many times, in as many ways as you want. The encoding of the tracks will jump from a bit rate of 128 kbps to 256 kbps AAC (relatively close to CD quality) and the cost will jump from $.99 per track to $1.29, but the incentive is that if you buy these new and improved non-copy-protected tracks you can burn them as many times as you want, access them from as many computers as you want, play them on as many different devices as you want, and generally have your way with them. If you already purchased an EMI album with DRM you won’t even miss out on the downloading renaissance as you can upgrade to the better quality, non-protected version for an extra $.30 a track.

EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli explained that EMI is enacting this revolutionary new policy in part because they believe it will result in more fans buying more music. Will it? Is someone who cares significantly about sound quality even buying music digitally? Does your average downloading customer care currently feel significanlty encumbered by DRM? Encumbered enough to pay an extra $.30 per song? Will people be confused by the fact that, for now at least, music by, say, David Bowie will be available in this new format but Jay-Z’s won’t?