Comments for Amazon MP3 Launches DRM-Free Music Store

Amazon MP3 Launches DRM-Free Music Store

2007-09-25T15:37:42Z

Amazon's long awaited DRM-free online music store launched today. The service is called Amazon MP3. There's an estimated 2 million MP3 files there, for the low price of 89 or 99 cents each. I tried it out and am happy to report that there were four CocoRosie albums available for sale there - the desktop downloader worked well on my MacBook (see image below), the shopping experience was very simple and I'm looking forward to transferring the songs over to my other computer.

This is definitely a service I'll use when I want to buy whole albums and can't make it down to the local, independent record store. I've always felt dirty buying music from iTunes, now I think I'll feel a little less dirty buying DRM free music from Amazon. I saw the news first at Techmeme and there's good music-industry centric coverage at Steven Finch's Crenk. See a longer, more in-depth review of the new service over at our digital lifestyle blog Last100.

Comment from Steven Finch on 2007-09-25

2007-09-25T16:23:08Z

I must admit i dont see amazon being a iTunes killer, but i really do think it will be an eMusic killer!

Comment from Parag Mathur on 2007-09-25

2007-09-25T17:41:02Z

Marshall,

As always, content is king. If Amazon is able to signup all the major record labels and build a comprehensive library, they should do well. The quality should be good enough for most users.

On that note, good to see you found CocoRosie on there. Have not heard of them...what genre of music is that?

Comment from JulesLt on 2007-09-25

2007-09-25T17:59:57Z

How do the prices compare against emusic? As an early subscriber I'm still on a 90 songs for $30 plan, so I've not checked how competitive the current plans are.

The recommendations are better than my iTunes ones (as Amazon have more purchase history I guess, but also because I will use iTunes to buy single songs by artists I don't like generally.

Nice to see Mac and PC support from the off. One thing I do wonder is if either of these guys (Amazon, emusic) could make an iTunes plug-in like iLike??? (Which lets you download free MP3s directly into iTunes).

Comment from Michael Trythall on 2007-09-25

2007-09-25T18:10:31Z

You can also use http://amazonmp3.com/ to get there. It's a little cleaner URL, I think!

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2007-09-25

2007-09-25T18:22:06Z

Thanks everyone for your comments. Re eMusic - I haven't spent a lot of time with that service as I found their interface really inhospitable and their music selection frustratingly small. I've heard somebody complain about the Amazon MP3 interface already this morning, though, and the music selection here may not be a lot larger. Any eMusic fans here care to chime in?

Re CocoRosie - they are hard to classify! I love them and hate to do this, but I'd suggest checking out their MySpace page to hear some of their music: http://myspace.com/cocorosie

@Michael thanks for the clean URL! I've read several people complaining about this and you've saved us here! I updated the post to point to amazonmp3.com Thanks again!

Comment from Kevin on 2007-09-25

2007-09-25T19:03:57Z

How are they going to make money?

It is widely thought that Apple makes next to nothing on songs they sell - they make their money on the iPods. Amazon is selling cheaper songs without that other revenue stream...

Comment from my music blog on 2007-09-25

2007-09-26T00:06:42Z

so that's a good news! Amazon really does it well in selling...I would also want to try looking for the songs I like later. congratulations!

Comment from Alexis Brion on 2007-09-26

2007-09-26T10:49:40Z

Neither iTunes, nor eMusic do a good job recommending music. Probably Amazon con do a better job there, they know how to.