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OR EMAILInteresting: Amazon MP3 Downloads
Amazon has offered a music digital download service for a while now. After trying it out, I feel it’s competitive enough with iTunes that I may return in the future.
In iTunes, this Keren Ann album is priced at the standard $9.99. Individual songs are $.99. This album is noted as “iTunes Plus” meaning no DRM and encoded at a high bit rate in AAC. There’s also a “digital booklet” - a PDF of liner notes and cover art.
On Amazon, the same album is a dollar cheaper, at $8.91. Individual songs are $.99. Amazon also eschews DRM and offers a high bit rate MP3. There’s no digital booklet.
So Amazon’s version of the same album was essentially on par with iTunes, and since it’s MP3 with no DRM it would be playable in iTunes and on an iPod.
Actually downloading the music to my computer was a bit convoluted. I had to first install a program called Amazon MP3 Downloader. It is required for album purchases, but not for individual song purchases.
The downloader first launched Safari, although I was using Firefox at the time. I then had to download and open an .amz file in the MP3 downloader. But finally, I got this nice screen:
After downloading, the files were placed in a new folder (Music/Amazon MP3) and automatically imported into iTunes.
Here’s the stats on one of the songs:
The Good
- Some albums are cheaper than iTunes.
- On par with iTunes in terms of quality.
- DRM-less MP3s.
The Bad
- Smaller selection.
- Ordering process is not as easy as iTunes.
Conclusion
If you’re buying single tracks, there’s little difference between iTunes and Amazon, but for full albums there’s an opportunity to save a buck or two. As for DRM: while Apple is moving in that direction, they still differentiate between iTunes Plus and regular iTunes which is needlessly confusing. With Amazon, all tracks are DRM-free. Perhaps Apple should just make everything “iTunes Plus” and do away with that moniker. And a price drop to stay competitive goes without saying.
At present, I feel the Amazon MP3 Download service is appealing enough that for every digital album purchase in the future, I’ll check out Amazon just to see if I can save a few clams.
Disclosure: I own a tiny amount of Apple stock.
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"Yeah it could be the 3g or possibly the gps. Some apps may turn on the location and it remains on. But right now the battery is lasting long enough to where I'm satisfied.Interesting that you noticed sluggishness also, hope a 2.0.1 update will fix that." -
I hope they bring that stuff to germany asap!!! Sounds very good and they have more songs than itunes!!!
“On Amazon, the same album is a dollar cheaper, at $8.91. Individual songs are $.99. Amazon also eschews DRM and offers a high bit rate MP3. There’s no digital booklet. So Amazon’s version of the same album was essentially on par with iTunes, and since it’s MP3 with no DRM it would be playable in iTunes and on an iPod.”
I see what you mean by “on par” with iTunes, considering that you don’t get the digital booklet on Amazon. But I actually find the booklet to be worth that extra dollar and then some. I also find AAC to be a superior codec to MP3, but that’s a long argument for another day.
Having said all that, I, too, think that Amazon has finally set up a store that at least competes with iTunes and even bests it in some cases. This will keep Apple honest in the long run, so I’m glad both stores exist. You lose a little in convenience having to move your downloads over to the iTunes and then to the iPod, but overall, Amazon has put together a great music store.
My issue is with the variable pricing model. If iTunes were to fall apart, leaving only Amazon with no competition, I suspect there would be far fewer $8.91 albums and far more $14.00 and up albums in a matter of months. This is the sticking point between Universal/NBC and Apple right now. The labels want to control the pricing, which historically has always led to higher, not lower, prices.
So the bottom line is that I want both iTunes and Amazon to continue to succeed. That’s the best way to keep the innovation happening and the prices down.
Yep I do agree the competition is good in the end for the consumer. We get more choice and ideally, lower prices. Not much to complain about from the consumer end, there.
I like itunes more then amazon cause it’s easier and more funny!! But it’s good to have some real competitor for itunes so they have to do more things that are good for us (lower prices, more major labels, etc..)!!
I just purchased my first Amazon and was amazed at the ease of use. I only purchased a single song and chose to ignore installing that Amazon app mentioned. The process was painless and worked perfectly. For me, DRM protected music is pointless because I want to play them on devices other than my iPod. I prefer and will use Amazon going forward simply because I know that all music is DRM free and in available in standard MP3 format.
Does anyone else have a problem with downloading tracks from Amazon? I love the site (I’ve had a falling out with iTunes) and would love to download 256kbps DRM-free files but I keep having to send emails to AMZ Customer Service saying my download didn’t work. Then I have to wait a day for the access to be restored so I can try again. I’ve adjusted my browser settings to their specifications to no avail. Does anyone else experience this???
personally, i don’t like the idea of paying a dollar for a single song. that is just daylight robbery. I will be honest, I prefer buying pirated cd’s as it costs a lot lot less than buying something from a store as I live in nepal which is a very very poor country and i have a limited income.