A little more than two years after failing to “protect” its records using malicious software implemented on every CD Sony BMG record company decided to allow Amazon.com online music store to sell its music without digital rights management (DRM) copyright protection technologies.

“We are excited to offer Amazon MP3 customers DRM-free MP3s from Sony BMG, which represents many of the most popular musicians from the past and present. Our Amazon MP3 customers will be able to choose from a full selection of DRM-free music downloads from all four major labels and over 33 000 independents that they can play on virtually any music-capable device,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com vice president for digital music.

The decision to sell music tracks without protection by Sony BMG marks the end of copyright protection MP3 era. It is likely that other companies will follow with the same move, which will allow end-users to listen their MP3s on every device they own, whether its Apple iPod, Creative Zen, Nokia E61 or a built-in MP3 player in a vehicle.

Launched in September 2007, Amazon MP3 offers what the company calls “Earth’s biggest selection” of DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 3.1 million songs from more than 270 thousand artists. Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software and is encoded at 256Kb/s to deliver high audio quality.

Most songs available on Amazon MP3 are priced from $0.89 to $0.99, with more than 1 million of the over 3.1 million songs priced at $0.89. The top 100 bestselling songs are $0.89, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 bestselling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise.