Other Music launched the Digital Other Music digital download store Monday, a music download service for Indie music that is compatible with Apple's iPod and any other digital media device that supports the MP3 format. The service is offering all downloads without DRM encoded as 320 kbps MP3 files, a higher bit-rate than the 256 kbps DRM-free downloads Apple will be offering from EMI in May*.

Other Music is a brick and mortar vinyl and CD store that opened in Manhattan in 1995. The company has specialized in independently released music, and the digital download store will do the same. Labels offered by the service include Warp Records, Sonic Youth Recordings (SYR), Mush Records, Kinderkore, Beggars Banquet, and other large and small independent labels.

Unlike Apple's iTunes Store, which offers largely uniform pricing, Digital Other Music has a wider range of pricing, with many albums ranging from US$9.99 to $12.99. The service also offers some tracks as album-only downloads, though the vast majority of tracks appear to be available as individual tracks.

Digital Other Music is Web-based, and the company is offering 30 second clips of each song, and a download manager for purchases. While the songs being downloaded are compatible with iPod and other digital media devices, the downloads themselves need to be added to iTunes (or other manager for other services) on your computer to be added to your iPod.

[Update: The story was edited to say that Digital Other Music's 320 Kbps is a higher bit-rate than the upcoming 256 Kbps DRM-free EMI tracks that will soon be offered by Apple. The story originally reported this as being of higher quality, but as noted in the comments below, comparing bit rates from different codecs is not a straight forward prospect. As of this writing, all of our readers have chimed in on the side that a 256 kbps AAC file will sound superior to a 320 kbps MP3 file. - Editor]