Warners try a spot of DRM-free sales

With something less of the enormous hoohah EMI made when it loosened some of its DRM, Warners have quietly snuck what seems like an experimental DRM-free store onto the web as part of mp3.com founder Michael Robertson's new Anywhere CD service.

AnywhereCD offers higher-than-iTunes quality, but only allows purchases of whole albums as a single lump, which just seems to be designed to try and keep the album format alive in the face of consumer behaviour. Now people are getting used to not having to shell out for the filler, they're unlikely to want to return to the old ways.

In what almost sounds like a move inspired by Gmail's April Fool "email printed and delivered" service, if you pay slightly more for your download, you can have a CD delivered to your door - which gives the impression this is being thought of more as a CD sales site with some download add-ons, rather than a download site with a back-up hard copy.

Sub Pop and some other indies have also joined the service, which is American facing.

[UPDATE: After we first published this story, Billboard changed its report as Warners have pulled the plug - details here]