It’s been about a day since Amazon launched the Public Beta of their DRM-Free Music store called Amazon MP3, and so far the reviews are extremely positive and users are happy with the ease of use, and the prices. Their slogan is “Play Anywhere, DRM-Free Music Downloads” but they should have added “for cheap” on to it. Prices for these DRM-free songs range from 89 cents to a maximum of 99 cents while iTunes charges $1.29 for their DRM-free music. Most full albums range in price from $5.99 to $9.99, although there are some sold for $4.99 and under. Amazon may have actually caused Steve Jobs to get a bit concerned because now iTunes has a real competitor! A little healthy competition for Apple may actually be good.
DRM-Free means that once you download a song or album, you can play them on multiple devices like your computer (PC or Mac), your iPod, Zune, iPhone, BlackBerry, and the list goes on. Amazon’s library includes over 2 million songs by 180,000 artists with 20,000 major and independent labels. On the downside, while this may sound like a lot of songs, it’s really not. Most big name labels aren’t a part of this like Sony, and given that content is king, they’ll need more music. If Amazon were able to ink a deal with some of the other companies, this would be huge.
When you click on a song or album, you’ll be able to preview the music (30 second clip) before buying. On the same page, you’ll also be able to rate the song, read customer reviews, leave feedback about the service, or view your recent history which shows your recently viewed products and recent searches. And of course there are advertisements and other product offers from Amazon. Below is an image of what the Amazon MP3 downloader looks like:
While I worked my way around the web today getting reactions from people, I saw comments like “the experience is fantastic!” or “Wow, this is amazing.” Their MP3 Downloader allows you to easily add the music you’ve downloaded to iTunes and Windows Media Player which leaves me wondering if iTunes will be able to remain the top digital music store for long?
Source: Amazon Earworm’s Blog
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Tags: General, Amazon, Apple, Downloads, iTunes, Music
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iPod owners are not going to shop here if the software they use to manage their iPods has a built-in store. It’s what made Internet Explorer popular when they started bundling it with Windows: laziness.
Personally, I’m not going to give AmazonMP3 a try as they only accept credit cards. (If I want to refill my iTunes account, I have to buy a gift card.)
I think it’s a great idea! Anywhere I can get music for cheaper the better (as long as it’s semi-legal). I trust Amazon, and it’s DRM free which is my biggest concern. Next is the selection though…
This is definitely worth every penny. I am going to use it, and hopefully more and more will be added (like UMG, Sony, etc.).
That is true, but there is also a large tech-savvy audience that understands the restrictions that DRM applies to media, and I think that they would give this a shot.
Selection will come after other companies start to see how popular this can become. I don’t think companies will be such sticklers that they’ll lose out on a lot of sales simply because of the DRM-free offering.
Exactly. There are also the friends and relatives of the tech-savvy users, don’t forget. I highly doubt that Amazon will usurp iTunes as the largest online store, however I do think that it has the potential of being successful in its own right, not to mention the ability to scrape a little off the top of iTunes’ user base. As Ryan so wisely said, a little competition never hurt.
As for the selection, I don’t think it is as bad as you all make it out to be. They seem to have EMI on board, I found some Warner stuff, and there are quite a few independent artists listed. Many of the artists I listen to are on there already, so I’m satisfied thus far.
The competition is one of the things that I’m most excited about. Even if this doesn’t drive Apple out of business it might push them a little harder to offer the DRM-free songs from more artists AND at no additional cost.
I would love to use Amazon’s store … if only they offered it in Canada.
See I’m still not sure. I don’t listen to most of the crap they play on the radio, and I like to listen to bands that most people haven’t heard of. I don’t expect them to cater to my tastes, though.
I don’t listen to, as you put it, the “crap on the radio” either. I have an extreme dislike for American popular music right now, including everything from Fall Out Boy to Fergie to Soulja Boy. Very little good American music has come out for about ten years now. (I’m still on good terms with what’s coming from across the Atlantic, though.) However, most of my music collection is from better-known artists, and these are usually the guys I have been able to find on Amazon. Some of my music is from lesser-known acts, and it has been more problematic to find that stuff on Amazon. Still, I’m not too bothered by this, as they have enough of a selection to keep me happy for a while.