Apple today launched iTunes Plus—DRM-free music tracks featuring high quality 256 kbps AACs for $1.29 per song. iTunes Plus is launching with EMI’s digital catalog of recordings. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside the higher quality iTunes Plus versions when available. In addition, iTunes customers can now upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to iTunes Plus tracks for 30 cents a song and $3.00 for most albums. Apple has released iTunes 7.2 which adds compatibility with iTunes Plus.

Apple also announced the launch of iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store featuring free content such as course lectures, language lessons, lab demonstrations, sports highlights and campus tours provided by top US colleges and universities including Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Duke University and MIT.