iTunes to sell DRM-free tunes for 99 cents?

Kids, set your faces to stunned.

The New York Times tech blog “Bits” is reporting that Apple have decided to “back down” on premium pricing for DRM free music and sell all music — crippled or not — for the same price: 99 cents.

For the record, there is no official announcement on the Apple “Hot News” page, but they’re too busy bursting at the seams over the release date for OS X Leopard (10/26 if you care) to post it, perhaps? Or perhaps it’s just a rumor that the NYT decided to run with. I’m assuming it is, for now, the latter (unless the NYT have an insider at Apple), as Coldplay (an EMI band and therefore part of the DRM free catalogue) “enhanced” (read: DRM free) tracks are still $1.29 on iTunes as of this moment.

My only question to Apple is: what are you going to do for all the people who paid an extra thirty cents per song up through today? Don’t think that you can ignore them, Steve. Remember the iPhone price-cut fiasco problem?