The infuriating copyright restrictions - the digital rights management (DRM) restrictions - that have been conventionally imposed on internet downloads would soon be lifted, as per the Monday announcement by Apple and EMI.

Come May and EMI's complete music and video directory will be available without any DRM protection! Users of Apple's iTunes music service in North America and Australia will be able to buy their music free of the restrictions.

Both Apple and EMI will also be offering higher quality sound files of songs, which will be available at a higher price of $1.29, which is $0.30 more than the set price of $0.99 for the most recent songs. Those users who do not wish to pay the higher prices can still choose to buy the regular $0.99 DRM-encoded tracks.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, said the high-quality songs will be encoded at 256kbps AAC, rather than 128kbps AAC used for the standard songs. He also clarified that the higher-quality DRM-free songs are an addition to and not a replacement of what is already being offered in stores.

According to Eric Nicoli, who is the EMI Group CEO, "In all of research, consumers tell us overwhelmingly that they would be willing to pay a higher price for a digital music file that they could use on any player. It's clear to us that interoperability is important to music buyers and is a key to unlocking and energizing the digital business."