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Amazon MP3 Music Store Opens Today

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

September 25, 2007, 11:54 AM

Amazon.com launched the public beta of its digital music store Tuesday, offering over 2 million DRM-free tracks.

The new music store could be seen as a strong competitor to iTunes, as it features many of the same artists without copy protection on the files. This means that not only can the tracks purchased from Amazon MP3 be copied, burned, and stored on multiple computers, but they are also compatible with most portable devices, including the iPod. All songs are encoded at 256 kilobits per second.

iTunes Store has made DRM-free songs available also, but at a higher cost than its protected songs. Amazon MP3 offers individual songs for 89 to 99 cents, and entire albums for $5.99 to $9.99 USD. In comparison, Apple sells their unprotected music for $1.29 per song, and $12.99 per album.

One drawback to Amazon's store is the fact that many artists are noticeably absent from the catalog due to contractual obligation to have DRM on their digital tracks. Labels under Sony BMG Music Entertainment including Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive and RCA, are all missing from Amazon MP3's catalog. This means that artists from Slayer to Britney Spears will not currently be available.

However, for the more indie savvy, Amazon MP3 has many labels offering their catalogs for the first time as DRM-free files. These include Alligator, HighTone, Sanctuary, RIghteous Babe, Sugar Hill, and Trojan Records.

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By PSXp-ONE

posted Sep 26, 2007 - 5:22 PM

Alright!!! I've been waiting for this to happen and today I gave it a try. I bought my first track, copied it to my PSP and it plays great, why? CUZ IT REALLY IS DRM FREE!! it was also a nice touch to see that Amazon actually embedded the CD Cover to the mp3, I like that! Sounds great at 256-360 (VBR), Joint Stereo (info taken from Winamp). I paid $0.89, for my track and I'm happy!!, hee hee hee.

Score: 0

By improvelence

posted Sep 27, 2007 - 3:12 PM

Dude we are so sick of hearing about your PSP. PSP sucks.

Score: 0

By shicaca

posted Sep 27, 2007 - 8:18 AM

"Amazon actually embedded the CD Cover to the mp3"

That's great. I've been downloading/telling everybody to dl from Walmart's MP3 catalog (and consequently to NOT download anything DRM), and it really bummed me that they were so nearsighted as to not include the basic things that are ALWAYS included with a CD (CD art, etc). It was a sad day for me to realize I have to find every last one of the dl'ed songs artist info and art. ... It's a small step back, but the huge leap forward with NO DRM completely obliterates forty backwards leaps.

Score: 0

By dracodos

posted Sep 26, 2007 - 2:30 PM

This is a nice plus for the Indie Artists but i'm wondering what the breakdown of the profit is like? How much are the artists going to recieve out of the 89 to 99 cents/song?

Score: 0

By Reap_r

edited Sep 26, 2007 - 1:09 PM

I am still going to buy the itunes or amazon digital file and then go grab me a copy of the higher bitrate (320k or better) from the net. After all, I am not buying the song, I am simply buying a license...a license that does not prevent me from having another copy of the song at higher quality or multiple copies of it. No change for me then, just $.10 cheaper...yay.

I don't buy CD's. I feel that buying a CD is rewarding bad music. Since I pay for the crappy songs as well as the good. When I buy a song from amazon or itunes, I only get the ones I want. If everyone does this there will be an excellent feedback method to the artist. And don't tell me that radio airplay gives any sort of real market feedback...payola anyone?

Score: 0

By improvelence

posted Sep 26, 2007 - 10:29 AM

Oh no....whatever will I do without Slayer and Britney Spears....

One thing that pisses me of about the online music business is the lack of LOSSLESS AUDIO. Get with the program, we should not have to buy lossy files if we don't want to. I am an avid purchaser of digital music but it peeves me to no end that I cant buy lossless files. I always try to get used cd's on ebay first, but if I can get it off of Itunes cheaper, I go that route. Lets start petitioning for lossless files, it sucks that if I cant convert my downloads as I choose without severely destroying the quality.....or maybe that is their game....

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Sep 26, 2007 - 11:03 AM

Get with the program, we should not have to buy lossy files if we don't want to.

Get with the program...buy the CD.

I am an avid purchaser of digital music but it peeves me to no end that I cant buy lossless files. I always try to get used cd's on ebay first, but if I can get it off of Itunes cheaper, I go that route. Lets start petitioning for lossless files, it sucks that if I cant convert my downloads as I choose without severely destroying the quality.....or maybe that is their game....

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Lack of lossless sucks, but until the majority of the market demands it, it ain't gonna happen. Most users are content with 128/192 crap. What can ya do? Well, the petition is a start... :)

Score: 0

By improvelence

posted Sep 27, 2007 - 3:13 PM

I would always buy the cd if the d*** cheese record industry didn't a** **** me so bad.

Score: 0

By swuser

posted Sep 25, 2007 - 5:40 PM

>This means that artists from Slayer to Britney Spears will not currently be available.

Finally.

Score: 0

By dhjdhj

posted Sep 26, 2007 - 8:20 AM

Who?

--->This means that artists from Slayer to Britney Spears will not currently be available.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Sep 25, 2007 - 9:00 PM

I happen to be a Slayer fan. Of course, I already have the CDs I enjoy from them, so it's pretty moot.

Score: 0

By improvelence

posted Sep 26, 2007 - 10:30 AM

slayer sucks....because of this. they are dead to me

Score: 0

By mdotwills

posted Sep 25, 2007 - 8:04 PM

lol

Score: 0

By Carlospr

edited Sep 25, 2007 - 3:33 PM

Another only USA feature:

"...
As required by our Digital Content providers, Digital Content will, unless otherwise designated, be available only to customers located in the United States.
..."

http://www.amazon.com/gp...F8&nodeId=200154280

I think they still want that people outside the USA purchase CDs instead mp3.

That's bad news.

Score: 0

By shicaca

posted Sep 27, 2007 - 8:23 AM

It's probably the same thing they're doing at Walmart... They (the record companies) are testing how much $$ they make off us in the U.S. before making it more multinational... Less to lose, less to code. Makes semi-sense (Although you'll never know what'll happen in other countries.

Score: 0

By lonechicken

posted Sep 25, 2007 - 2:24 PM

CDs... (Best Buy + Lots of other crap) > Tower Records

MP3s... (Amazon + lots and lots of other crap) > iTunes

Hey, Tower was once a much more popular destination than Best Buy.

Score: 0

By dracodos

posted Sep 26, 2007 - 2:28 PM

didn't tower go under? Most of the Stores when i was still living in NY closed

Score: 0

By serrebi101

posted Sep 25, 2007 - 12:45 PM

awsom. Good work amazon.

Score: 0

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