Actually, they already have “iTunes Plus” which offers DRM-free AAC tracks encoded at 256k. So far, I believe only EMI has signed up.
The iTunes Plus tracks are $1.29 a song. Too much! I won’t be supporting that.
Here is an intriguing quote from Nobuyuki Idei, Sony Chairman, circa 2003:
“The music industry has been spoiled. They have controlled the distribution of music by producing CDs, and thereby have also protected their profits. So they have resisted Internet distribution. Six years ago I asked Sony Music to start working with IBM to figure out how to offer secured distribution of their content over the Net. But nobody in Sony Music would listen. Then about six months ago, they started to panic. They have to change their mindset away from selling albums, and think about selling singles over the Internet for as cheap as possible-even 20 cents or 10 cents-and encourage file-sharing so they can also get micro-payments for these files. The music industry has to re-invent itself; we can no longer control distribution the way we used to. Most entertainment executives understand this, but how to exactly execute on this model is more difficult.”
I’m still waiting for the music industry (and Sony Music itself, for that matter) to take this guy’s advice. Ironically, two years after this statement was made, Sony Music ended up being the XCP rootkit malware scandal company. Darn shame.
It's still lossy, though. Compressed to hell. Certainly better than a measly 128, but I don't think the 256 is variable bit rate either, which would have been smarter than the constant bit rate they offer.
And back in 2000, Sony tried selling music for $3.50 per DRM-encoded song and failed miserably. I’ll pay $1.29 per track, but only if it is worth it. If Apple starts selling lossless music on iTunes, then they could charge $1.29 ($7 per album) and $.99 for high bit-rate AAC’s or MP3’s ($5 for the album). Another good solution would be a “Voluntary Collective Licensing” program, as described by the EFF:
http://www.eff.org/share/collective_lic_wp.php