The murmers were right on the money regarding the purpose of today’s early press release. Steve Jobs made the announcement official today that EMI would be releasing its DRM-free music, at the higher bit rate of 256 kbps, for all of 30 cents more than the DRM-equipped music.

Why leave both options available? Steve aptly pointed out that many people are quite satisfied using iTunes and an iPod to play all of their downloaded content, and might not necessarily feel like spending that extra 30 cents to play their tunes in some other player. Well put, Steve.

In regards to the Beatles, Steve said he hoped that the Beatles would be joining iTunes very soon, but didn’t sound particularly assertive that such an agreement was near fruition.

So, in brief, EMI Records’ music will be available on iTunes for either the standard price of 99 cents, or at the higher rate of $1.30, but DRM-free, and at a higher quality of 256 kbps. Also, Steve, Apple, and EMI all feel like this was the first step towards a completely DRM-free iTunes in the near future.

We certainly hope such is the case, and applaud Apple’s effort to actively combat DRM, as opposed to just hoping and dreaming. That’s the go-get’em attitude we’ve come to know and love from Apple.