Well, that didn't take long! Less than a week after EMI, the world's fourth largest record label, announced that it would sell music from Apple's iTunes music store without copying restrictions, Microsoft has said this week it will soon do the same.

Apparently responding to Apple's deal with EMI, Microsoft ">announced that it will sell digital music online without digital rights management (DRM) protection. In the past, Microsoft had argued that DRM was needed for the business models of current and emerging digital media, etc. etc.

Seems like the dominoes are now falling Apple's way, however. With iTunes, EMI, and now Mr. Softy jumping on the DRM-free bandwagon, I wonder how long the other music companies can hold out and continue selling music with cumbersome DRM schemes?