I applaud EMI for making DRM-free music available to online music stores, and I'm glad it comes with a boost in audio quality. Apple will offer the option of converting any eligible iTMS purchases for $.30 a piece. But I'm sure there are at least a few people out there who are just fine playing their $.99 128kbps tracks on their iPods. The new DRM-free files may be twice as big, but that doesn't mean they'll sound twice as good.

So is the boost in quality worth it? I certainly think so, but then I'm a bit of a freak about sound quality. Here's a quick way to see for yourself. I dug around the office for some CDs and ripped a couple short clips (nothing over 20 seconds) in both 128 kbps and 256 kbps AAC. Download give 'em a listen and let us know if you can tell the difference. Or for an even better test, fire up iTunes and rip a few of your own CDs at different bit-rates. It's cool. I'll wait.