Apple have announced changes to the way music will be sold through their iTunes store; it will now be DRM free, and priced on a sliding scale, 59p, 77p, and 99p.

The songs will also have better audio quality.

This opens them up to direct competition from other MP3 manufacturers; users can now buy music through the iTunes store and use it on their Creative/Sony/name-a-brand MP3 player.

This has two major ramifications for Apple – users wedded to iTunes could move away from iPods, costing Apple on the hardware side; or users of other MP3 players will begin to use the iTunes store and increase Apple’s share of the download market.

At face value, there seems more to be gained from opening the store – there are millions of users who will potentially download millions of tracks to their native players. Some may move away from iPods to other options, but Apple are effectively backing themselves to have the best hardware.