Jobs: You Know That 'Thoughts on Music' Letter Still Makes Me Tear Up …

Well that didn’t take long at all. Less than a month after Amazon.com began peddling DRM-free music for considerably less than you’d find it on Apple’s iTunes store, Cupertino silently dropped its price to match.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company is reducing the price of DRM-free iTunes Plus tracks to 99 cents across the board, down from $1.29 per track. “It’s been very popular with our customers, and we’re making it even more affordable,” said Jobs, who first called for a DRM-free music marketplace in February in his “Thoughts on Music” essay.

Of course what Jobs really means is more affordable to fans of EMI artists. Because, as of this writing, EMI Group is the only major recording company with which Apple has cut a deal for DRM-free music.