7digital is claiming that its big bump in traffic is a direct consequence of offering major-label music without DRM.  We call this statement misleading.  It is more correct to say that 7digital's success is because it is now offering major label content that plays on iPods.  The DRM-packaged music on the site uses Microsoft Windows Media DRM, which only plays on Windows Media DRM (a/k/a "Plays For Sure") compliant devices from vendors such as Sandisk, Creative Labs, LG, and Samsung. 

Of course, 7digital -- like Amazon, Rhapsody, and Napster -- is looking to differentiate itself from Apple's iTunes site, and touting DRM-free music is a simple, easily comprehensible way of doing that.  In fact, 7digital's CEO has stated, "Music lovers are beginning to reali[z]e that owning an iPod doesn’t mean just buying tracks from iTunes."  The major music companies are licensing their material in DRM-free MP3 format for the same reason: they too want to see iTunes get serious competition, and they don't particularly care whether users listen to the music on iPods or other devices. 

More competition in online music is good for consumers, as is getting rid of DRM that restricts them from legitimate uses of content and locks them into particular platforms.  But let's make sure the message from 7digital's traffic data is representative of the actual facts.  iPods still dominate the market for digital music players worldwide; that's what this news is about; and making music DRM-free is not going to jeopardize that dominance as long as iPods continue to be desirable devices.