Do iTunes Plus songs from EMI sound better, and good enough to copy to a CD and play on your grown-up stereo? Who the hell can tell. It seems the whole world is trying to upgrade to iTunes Plus, officially released today, and download EMI tracks in the new copyable, 256K audio resolution format (which cost $2.69 vs standard, copyprotected 128K songs). My attempted download keeps seizing up.

The traffic jam is probably being fuelled by the fact you can also upgrade EMI songs in your existing collection for $0.60 per single or $5.40 an album (don't you love the irony that record companies, who are constantly weeping about the impact of new technologies, get to sell you the same song over and over as you upgrade from vinyl to disc to digital format to slightly better digital format, with a few billion in ring tone pocket money thrown in).

Anyhow, EMI albums in the better-sounding format include: Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane and more than a dozen of Paul McCartney’s classic albums available on iTunes for the first time.