Amazon's digital music catalogue is all set to go global, and although a launch date has not yet been settled, it shall hit sometime this year. Given Amazon MP3 offers DRM-free tracks, which are generally cheaper than iTunes limited, equivalent offerings, we cannot help but think an epic battle between the big As is all set to take off. Amazon MP3 has the only digital music catalogue that offers DRM-free tunes from all four major labels, with around 3.3 million tracks in the library, they are packing some weight. If that fact doesn't have Apple quaking in their boots, the competitive pricing should. We couldn't care less how Amazon and Apple get down and dirty, but as they are bound to be set for a fight, teeth gnashing and all, it can only mean good things for customers. DRM-free music will have a bigger global presence, and that should solidify its worth in the consumer market. Also, the ensuing price war is not going to be too bad either. After all, iTunes surely cannot keep their offerings priced above the competition, whilst simultaneously offering DRM gimped and comparatively expensive ($1.29), DRM-free tracks. It's about to get interesting—watch this space.

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The UK branch of European cellular provider Orange hopes to have music rental services on its handsets without copy protection in as little as half a year, the company's music product director Brenda O’Connell says. Speaking at the MIDEM mobile conference, O'Connell explains that the digital rights management (DRM) that locks down tracks varies widely between computers and cellphones, making it all but impractical to have a unified but device-independent music service without removing DRM entirely. "We’re... very concerned about the fact that customers are really rejecting DRM," the Orange official says. "We want to launch not only a la carte services but subscription-based services, rental models. DRM is what’s holding us back at this point." O'Connell does not say how Orange would expect an unprotected rental service to work through conventional means, as the concept would expose any temporary files to illegal copying while they exist on the handset. One proposal, however, would see all content stored on Orange servers, allowing users to stream the music as often as they like while in range of a 3G wireless connection.

Omnifone's MusicStation service uses a similar concept today but uses protect files on the customer's phone as a form of local cache that permits listening to some music when the cellular link is switched off. Regardless of implementation, Orange content senior VP Herve Payan believes his firm should have all major labels onboard for the concept "in the next six months," but that only about 100 handsets available in the world today would be technically capable of supporting such a service. None of these have been named so far.

Separately, Payan also describes recent decisions with specific handset makers and notes that Orange agreed to unlimited data plans for Apple's iPhone in part because of its automatic bridging between EDGE cellular data and Wi-Fi, which makes a data cap impractical. "It is very important to have not just an iPhone but unlimited data because the device goes from mobile to Wi-Fi without telling you - if you don’t have an unlimited data subscription the bill can be quite costly," he says. The executive also notes that Orange is not averse to maintaining separate, copy-protected stores such as Nokia's Music Store at the same time. The carrier is in talks with Nokia to ensure that the store is an option but is clearly separate from whatever Orange offers, Payan adds.

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Amazon announced the international rollout of Amazon MP3, their new online digital music download store in a press release earlier this week. The online store will offer the largest selection of DRM-free music downloads of any online store to date, and will include tracks from all major labels and over 33,000 independent labels.

While speaking at the MIDEM mobile conference, Brenda O’Connell, music product director of the UK branch of European cellular carrier Orange, announced plans to put into place a wireless DRM-free music rental service by the year's end.

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