Engadget notes that there are rumors of un-DRM'd music from major labels out there:

Details are admittedly scant on this one, and we must remember that these disclosures are coming out of France, but nevertheless, word on the street is that "at least one of the four major record companies could move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format within the coming months." Reportedly, executives of several anonymous technology companies that are meeting at Midem are pondering the move to unrestricted digital music downloads, which just years ago wasn't even a remote possibility.

I wonder - right now, the labels are making most of their digital revenue via iTunes, and Apple is setting the terms there - in ways the labels have not been happy with:

• Support for one device only (the iPod)
• Fixed prices for individual songs

They haven't been able to find a way out of that, and - even though they collect most of the $0.99 themselves (supposedly, they get around $0.70) - they want more. We may actually be at a point where, having tried everything else first, they'll end up "doing the right thing" as a last resort.

Technorati Tags: DRM, iTunes, iPod, mp3