View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/12/07/labels.test.mp3.waters/ Thursday, Dec 07, 2006 11:30am Labels test MP3 distribution waters Record labels are toying with the idea of distributing their musical catalogs without Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions, which would allow them to circumvent Apple's iTunes Music Store while still enabling users to play their tracks on the Cupertino-based company's massively popular iPod. Labels such as EMI have traditionally stuck with protected formats that restrict songs to supported playback devices, causing some backlash from consumers who believe they should be able to play music they purchase on any device they own. Now major music labels are starting to make songs available as MP3s as part of an experiment to gauge demand for music that is playable on any portable playback device, according to the Associated Press. EMI is offering Norah Jones and rock band Relient K via Yahoo's online music service as MP3s, presumably to test the waters of unrestricted music.