Apple made an announcement Tuesday saying that the songs on its notorious iTunes digital music service will cost between 69 cents and $1.29, and will no longer be saddled with copy-protection software. This digital rights management (DRM) - free music comes from the four major labels, and multiple independent labels. By the end of the quarter, Apple said it will offer its whole catalog of music, 10 million tracks, for sale without DRM.

Most songs were previously sold for 99 cents, with copy-protection software attached. And no one seemed bothered by that, as Apple's iPods hold nearly 75% of the digital music market, and the iTunes store has become the largest seller of music in the United States.

The announcements were made by Senior Vice President Phil Schiller, who delivered the show keynote in place of CEO Steve Jobs. In a press release accompanying the announcement, Apple said the pricing of a song will be based on what music labels charge. The labels that have agreed to the pricing include the four biggest - Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI.

Flexible pricing has long been expected as a condition of iTunes universally dropping its DRM and it seems like today's announcement represents a realization of that compromise. Nevertheless Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has long said that a simple pricing structure was crucial to the iTunes Store's success. It is unclear what prompted the change. These changes were unveiled during a speech Tuesday at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.