Newsflash: you might want to upgrade your digital audio player to support the AAC format. After all, this is the format to be used by Apple in selling their non-DRM music from EMI from now on, with lots of major music labels expected to follow suit on the months to come.

AAC is known to be the better digital audio format in terms of sound quality compared to the more popular MP3. Yesterday, Apple and EMI announced that they will be selling non-DRM tracks for US$ 1.29 per song. Such songs will be available in the AAC format.

Will your digital audio player support AAC? As of now, Microsoft, Nokia, Sandisk (e200 line), and Sony already include AAC playback on their devices. Those that don't have AAC format support are players from Creative, Toshiba, Cowon, Philips, etc.

Thankfully, upgrading your digital music player to support AAC can be done via firmware update. Just check your manufacturer's support if you want an upgrade.