Amazon.com's new Amazon MP3 store now claims "Earth's biggest selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads". It has more than two million 256kbps MP3 files from more than 180,000 artists from more than 20,000 labels. From the press release:
"Amazon MP3 is an all-MP3, DRM-free catalog of a la carte music from major labels and independent labels, playable on any device, in high-quality audio, at low prices," said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music."This new digital music service has already been through an extensive private beta, and today we're excited to offer it to our customers as a fully functional public beta. We look forward to receiving feedback from our customers and using their input to refine the service."
Many people have said they would be willing to pay more for tracks that are not protected with DRM (Digital Rights Management) code: Amazon is selling most things for less than DRM-crippled tracks from Apple's iTunes store, sometimes for much less. More than a million tracks cost 89c with most at 99c, instead of iTunes's 99c and $1.29. While there are "featured albums" at $7.99 and most are $8.99, there's quite a selection at oddball prices such as $3.96, $2.67 and less.
The Amazon selection looks reasonably good, with lots of tracks from EMI and Universal (which has fallen out with Apple), It doesn't appear to have anything from Sony BMG yet.
You can download tracks directly (I haven't tried) but "If you wish to purchase an entire album, you are required to use the Amazon MP3 Downloader available for Windows XP or Vista and Mac OS X 10.4 or higher." This works with your default browser, and is part of the first download process. You don't need buggy, bloated iTunes software or a buggy, bloated media player. And you won't have an iPod lock-in problem, because you can easily copy the songs to any music player or phone.
Finally, Amazon doesn't have to face the barrier that blocks most online music stores: getting people to sign up to pay for stuff. Hundreds of millions of people already have Amazon accounts, often with 1-click ordering turned on. They'll be able to buy downloads alongside books and physical CDs.
Amazon.com isn't going to kill iTunes. However, assuming that not all iTunes Store shoppers will keep paying higher prices for an inferior product, it could well eat into its sales... at least until Apple drops DRM as well.
Update: Daring Fireball's John Gruber, a Mac fan, has given Amazon a thumbs up. He writes:
In just a few minutes of shopping, I found plenty of songs at Amazon that are only available from the iTunes Store with DRM. 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.
In a later post, Gruber adds some information from his readers. One concerns price differences:
You can find some significant differences between Amazon's and iTunes's prices for the same music. DF reader Sunil Kapoor pointed to the album Cornell 1964 by Charles Mingus, which sells for $16.99 at iTunes and $8.99 at Amazon. Same with Pink Floyd's The Wall: $16.99 at iTunes, $8.99 at Amazon.
