Universal has announced that it is abandoning the practice of embedding digital rights management (DRM) software in its music. In a limited trial Universal will strip out the DRM from music sold via some retailers, including Google, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com. Music sold on iTunes will still have DRM embedded however.
Universal said: "The experiment will run from August to January and analyse such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s."