Apple today announced that starting today, all four major music labels (Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI) and thousands of independant labels are now offering DRM-free music. iTunes Plus, Apple's DRM-free format, features higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding. Apple has also made changes to the iTunes pricing structure. Songs will now be available at three price points: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Most albums still priced at $9.99.

Tunes offers customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of previously purchased songs to the higher quality DRM-free iTunes Plus format for just 30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price. The iTunes Store will begin offering eight million of its 10 million songs in Apple’s DRM-free format, iTunes Plus, today with the remaining two million songs offered in iTunes Plus by the end of March.

DRM-free music allows you to play your purchased music on devices not manufactured by Apple.