Napster, once a file-sharing service that famously drug the RIAA kicking and litigating into the digital music era, will finally drop DRM and start selling mp3s, says Ars Technica.

The P2P-turned-legit subscription service announced this morning that it will begin selling unprotected copies of its entire catalog in MP3 format beginning in the second quarter of 2008. Users of the service will be able to buy individual DRM-free tracks and albums, but Napster’s subscription service will remain unchanged. The company hailed the announcement as the first subscription service “featuring major label content” to announce plans to sell unprotected MP3s.

All the details have not been ironed out, and Napster has not announced which record labels will be participating, but it’s still promising news.

Sort of makes you wonder: Couldn’t they have started doing this, like, 7 years ago?

Napster goes back to MP3s [Ars Technica]

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