Apple has began selling songs today on iTunes that can be played on any MP3 player -- not just the iPod.

Apple first announced the partnership with EMI last month, allowing Apple to sell tunes by EMI artists such as Norah Jones, Paul McCartney and Coldplay without digital rights management technology, or copyright protection software. That software meant users had a tough time (though it was still technically possible) if they wanted to play their iTunes-purchased tracks on a non-iPod MP3 player.

Apple's iTunes Plus sells tracks for $2.19. Besides removing DRM, it also upgraded the sound quality of the music.

"Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound quality of iTunes Plus," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year."

The DRM-free music tracks deliver  high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings - for just RRP A$2.19 inc GST per song.

Apple Australia said that iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalogue, currently over four million songs, in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of RRP A$1.69 per song, alongside the higher quality iTunes Plus versions when available. In addition, iTunes customers can now easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to iTunes Plus tracks for just RRP A$0.50 cents a song and RRP A$5.10 for most albums.

"Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound quality of iTunes Plus," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year."

"This is a tremendous milestone for digital music," said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group. "Consumers are going to love listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their favorite EMI artists with no usage restrictions."

With the release of iTunes Plus, customers can now download tracks from their favourite EMI artists without limitations on the type of music player or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on. iTunes is also offering customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to the iTunes Plus versions. EMI music videos are now also available in iTunes Plus versions with no change in price. iTunes Plus songs purchased from the iTunes Store will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, widescreen TVs with Apple TV and as well as many other digital music players.

The iTunes Store has the world's largest catalogue of music and video  with over four million songs, 7,000 music videos, 100,000 podcasts and 23,000 audiobooks. The iTunes Store has sold over 2.5 billion songs making it the world's most popular online music store.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.