real iTunes becoming more like Russian iTunes

After the unfortunate, much-lamented demise of the Russian site, one of the world biggest music companies is finally sacking up and planning to sell downloadable music with no copy protections, and with a choice of format and bitrate (sort of). They sellin that shit through iTunes, too. Can I get a "fuck yes"!?!?!

Higher-quality music files, which will play on any computer and any digital-audio player, will not replace the copy-protected EMI music currently sold through iTunes. Rather, they will complement the standard 99-cent iTunes downloads and will be sold at a premium: $1.29 per song. ...

After initially selling the premium DRM-free music through Apple, EMI plans to expand the program to other music outlets. Retailers partnering with EMI, which also plans to remove DRM from its video downloads, will be able to choose from a variety of levels of sound quality. Retailers will also be able to choose whether to sell files in the MP3, WMA or AAC format.

In iTunes, music will be sold in a 256 kilobit-per-second AAC format.

This will be a yuge success. Mark it, dude.