4:15 PM -- The latest entry into the DRM-free music market is All About Jazz. Using a simple technology called Klicktrack, the site offers 320-kbit/s DRM-free music for download from a variety of jazz labels.
What's so interesting about it is how mind-numbingly simple the whole thing is. Here's how it works:
An artist sends them music
They put it online for download
They pay the artists for downloads and take a cut of the money
Doesn't that sound incredibly straightforward? I can't believe more companies aren't doing it. This company is Scandinavian, too, so it seems you could almost trust them.
Though the heavily-sampled CTI label is on the list, it doesn't look like Deodato's entire back catalog is up yet, so those of you looking for his classic fusion version of "Also Sprach Zarathurstra" will have to look elsewhere.
It's not as inherently exciting as last week's launch of the Other Music digital store, but we still gotta give it up for AAJ for taking what should not be a particularly revolutionary step forward in the digital music marketplace.
— A.L. Friedman, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading