Wow, it’s contagious, UMG has decided to sell DRM free MP3’s.

And as we predicted months ago, online music retail will have more players than just Apple’s iTunes store. UMG plans to sell these MP3s through Amazon.com, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Google, Real Networks, Transworld, Passalong Networks and PureTracks… but not iTunes.

The announced reasoning for not selling DRM free music at the iTunes store (the world’s largest online retailer) is that UMG is using Apple’s iTunes as the control for their MP3 experiment. The Lunatics think Doug Morris, one of the most successful record executives in modern times, is tired of being Steve Jobs’ butt boy.

The UMG/MP3 experiment is scheduled to last six months, but the Lunatics predict once they start selling MP3s there will be no turning back. During the test period, UMG will figure out not all songs should be priced at 99 cents, but Rome wasn’t built overnight.