Amazon launches sale of DRM-free MP3s
Submitted by Merlin on September 25, 2007 - 1:35pm.
Daring Fireball: The Amazon MP3 Store and Amazon MP3 Downloader
Given the Amazon MP3 Store’s audio quality, prices, and user experience, I can’t see why anyone would buy DRM-restricted music from iTunes that’s available from Amazon. And given that Amazon is quite a bit cheaper than iTunes Plus, you might as well check Amazon first. I plan to.
I’m with Gruber – this is a welcome and fan-friendly addition to the marketplace. And, frankly, I’m glad there’s finally somebody out there who can really give Apple some competition in this area.
One thing: I’m surprised that MP3 sales links aren’t yet mixed into regular CD sales pages. That must certainly be high on their TODO list. Because Amazon’s Google juice is strong as hell, and on the day they put “Buy This Track Now” onto a few dozen thousand PR5+ music pages? Well. That may be the day Apple gets to really see what competition in this space looks like.
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Very Cool
I see a nice array of artists, and an interesting variety of song titles and prices. I’m a Jethro Tull fan myself, and it’s nice to see a pretty broad array of options available in the Amazon MP3 store for them.
Some (even more) less typical artists like October Project are there as well. However, I do see that in order to buy an entire album I have to use the “Amazon MP3 Downloader”.
Makes me wonder what’s involved in that little bit of software. I can download the MP3’s without using it, but that will cost me a premium over the “album” price.
I think it’s cool that Amazon is offering this, and they indicate that the downloader will also automatically import songs into iTunes. Just leaves me wondering what else the downloader might be tracking… But maybe I’m just being too paranoid.