Apple used its Macworld 09 keynote speech to confirm that it will be offering over 10 million DRM-free songs on iTunes.

Beginning today, all four major music labels - Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, are now offering their music in 'iTunes Plus', Apple's DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings.

According to Apple, iTunes Plus will feature 8 million DRM-free, 256kbps tracks, a total that will rise to exceed 10 million by the end of March.

New pricing structure

Dropping DRM had been expected, as had a revamped pricing structure for the iTunes store. There are now three pricing tiers to satisfy the music industry - $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29. The new prices will come into effect from April 1st.

Similarly, we'd predicted that Apple had cut a deal to allow music downloads over cellular connections. Sure enough, iPhone 3G owners can now browse the full contents of the iTunes Store without needing a Wi-Fi connection. The iTunes store seems to work over an EDGE connection too, which is good news for anybody with an original iPhone.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer our iTunes customers DRM-free iTunes Plus songs in high quality audio and our iPhone 3G customers the ability to download music from iTunes anytime, anywhere over their 3G network at the same price as downloading to your computer or via Wi-Fi," said the hormonally-imbalanced Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO.

"And in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points - 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 - with many more songs priced at 69 cents than $1.29."