Hot on the heels of Apple’s announcement that it will be offering a Digital Rights Management (DRM) “free” version of songs on iTunes for $1.30, Microsoft is crafting its own, similar statement.  The company, which has struggled to keep the Zune music/media player afloat since it launched late last year, will be wiping DRM from “some of the catalog”.

The smashing of Microsoft’s own DRM chains will take place on the Zune Music Store, the company’s own version of iTunes.  It’s fairly certain that the initiative is a direct response to Apple’s movement in accordance with EMI.

However, according to Microsoft, Apple hasn’t been the only one chatting with music labels.  A spokesperson for the Redmond-based company told the media that,

“Microsoft has been talking with EMI and other record labels ‘for some time now’ about offering unprotected music on its Zune players in an effort to meet the needs of its customers.”

Despite the good intentions, Microsoft had better get with the DRM-free, and fast.  Reports are that Apple is willing to make all iTunes songs available without digital rights management, a bold move its competition may not be ready to launch. 

According to Microsoft,

“We plan on offering [DRM-free music] to [consumers] as soon as our label partners are comfortable with it.”