Yesterday, Apple announced that it is stripping digital rights management from the iTunes Music Store. That's great, but customers who want to upgrade are getting a raw deal.Since its debut, I've downloaded about 500 tracks from the iTunes Music Store. All 500 of them are hindered by digital rights management and set at the 128-Kbps bit rate. I knew that when I bought the tracks, and had no problem with it at the time of purchase.

Now I do. Why? Because if I want to strip those tracks of the DRM that restricts them, I have to pay 30 cents per track to "upgrade." In order to get rid of the DRM on the tracks I already own, I would have to give Apple an additional $150. That's unacceptable.

I don't have a problem paying a bit more for higher quality tracks, but charging me a second time to unlock music I've already bought is just plain wrong.

This is partly why I've been using Amazon's DRM-free download service since it opened. Amazon often charges less than Apple, has all DRM-free music, and offers better quality for less money.

Apple, give your loyal customers a chance to unlock their DRM on their iTunes-bought tracks for free.