Orange UK has dropped Digital Rights Management (DRM) from its newly refreshed Music Portal - Orange.co.uk/music, meaning that customers downloading tracks or albums from the store will no longer be limited to how many devices they can put/play it on. Orange is also introducing new tiered pricing, with downloads now available from 79p.

DRM-free music downloads have already been secured with Universal Music, EMI Music and a number of independent labels. Providing access to over 700,000 tracks, the DRM-free catalogue will be enhanced in the coming months. Orange will also be making a further refresh, such as to improve searching and navigating.


It's hoped that the improvements will also make music more attractive to buy than download illegally. Vodafone, Apple (iTunes) and Amazon have also recently ditched DRM, which many consumers saw as an overly restrictive and easily circumvented mess of heavy and largely unnecessary restrictions.