It looks like the online retail giant Amazon is set to compete with Apple with plans to launch an online music store completely free of any DRM infection, going by various reports.  The audio format is expected to be MP3, which while being considered inferior to the codec Apple uses, virtually all portable music players play MP3 natively.  As a result, consumers can transfer purchased music to their MP3 player without conversion even if their player does not support the MPEG4 audio format, unlike the upcoming DRM tracks from EMI on the iTunes store.  Going by rumours, they are busy aiming to strike deals with the major labels, with a Universal Music deal looking to be signed already for classical music. 

According to a new Strategy Analytics report, the global online music market is expected to increase by 62% to a value of $2.7 billion, with a forecast of US$6.6 billion by 2011.  Martin Olausson, the director of Strategy Analytics' digital media strategies service predicts that the move to DRM free music by EMI and Apple will increase music download revenues for the short to medium term, with long term revenue grown expected to come from a combination of these and subscription based services.

Thanks to GristyMcFisty for letting us know about this news.