Microsoft is planning a revamp of the Zune Marketplace this November which will include about a million DRM-free music tracks out of it’s 3-million track catalogue.

That’s a good sign because it’s hopefully showing that the tide is shifting, albeit slowly, away from digital rights management altogether. It’s unknown whether Microsoft will charge a premium for the new unfettered music a la iTunes or if it’ll try to compete with Amazon by offering DRM-free music at under a buck.

Whatever the case, I’ll betcha that the tracks will be watermarked somehow since Microsoft’s leading the charge in that area. As I said before, if it’s handled unobtrusively it could be a good step in the right direction.

Microsoft Music Store Goes DRM-Free [Digital Freedom 2.0]