Today Amazon announced that they will be selling DRM-free music from every major label, with Sony BMG as the last one to drop DRM. eMusic is already selling DRM-free music from indie labels, so this leaves Apple as the only major player still selling DRM-protected music.
Apple stands to lose business if they’re the only one still using DRM, since consumers know they can buy music from Amazon or eMusic and play it on their iPod or iPhone. Allowing music bought in iTunes Music Store to be played on other devices like the Zune most likely won’t have any significant effect on the iPod’s market share, but being able to buy music anywhere and play it on the iPod can only make it even more attractive.
iTunes still remains the easiest way to buy music, since you don’t have to open a web browser or use a separate application to download music. With both Amazon & eMusic, after you download a song from their web page, it will open in a separate downloader application, and you have to manually move it to iTunes or another music player application.