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Amazon DRM-Free Music Store Goes Beta
LowSNR writes "Amazon this morning moved their DRM-free music store into open beta. According to the release, 'Since all our digital music downloads are DRM-free, you can play them on anything that plays mp3s including PCs, Macs(tm), iPods(tm), Zunes(tm), Zens(tm), iPhones(tm), RAZRs(tm), and BlackBerrys. Plus, our Amazon MP3 Downloader application makes it easy to add your downloads to iTunes(tm) and Windows Media Player(tm), so you can sync up your devices or burn your music to CD hassle-free.' Not to mention Linux." Of course, without DRM few of the major labels play with them.
So if while testing I get some music for free, do I have to return it?
My work here is dung.
That's fantastic news!
Now how about non-DRM Unbox downloads?
More Twoson than Cupertino
" Zunes"
don't be so sure... someone would had to have actually BOUGHT one of these in order to make sure they can play mp3s.
eMusic has been around and has been DRM free. Their selection is probably larger than Amazon's at this point. Best part is when I import the mp3s into iTunes the songs are properly recognized and the album covers are downloaded accordingly. It looks to me that some tests at least goes on there to make sure that it is compatible with iTunes.
Hmm...maybe something harder...Neutral Milk Hotel? check. Danielle Dax? aww...so sad, not check. Mongol 800? no...too bad.
It seems just about everything that I listen to that is available somewhere is available here, so what am I missing? Even better though, if it's not available as an MP3 Amazon redirects me to a cd or vinyl copy. iTunes, etc. don't do that.
><));>
I'd be all over that, but as it is, their competition is fierce.
Yes, I am a smart ass; it's better than the alternative.
Maybe I'm not 'mainstream' in what I listen to, but I just checked, and the first 6 albums I could think of were all available there. I really hope this will take off, and then the 'major' music labels will soon feel the threat if they don't offer DRM-free.
Something that no one has mentioned so far is that these mp3s are 256k bitrate (at least the few I checked). I'm not an audiophile with tubes or anything, but I do think that straight mp3 at 128 sounds off. I for one welcome our new DRM-free music overlords.
But what is the bit rate for these songs? 112, 128, 160?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
12345
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
I've seen Coldplay, Radiohead, Police (they're touring now, I want a refresher), Garbage, nine inch nails, I'm happy, no, I'm f*cking jizzing my pants happy. Finally I can get music that will play on my MP3 player!
Wow, who'd have thunk it, I can buy music in a format that plays on my MP3 player, DVD player, computer and phone. What will they think of next?! How long did it take for the record companies to do that? 10 years?
...of things that play mp3 files.
A lot of us are new here.
Beatles? Fail.
Led Zeppelin? Fail.
Wait, iTunes doesn't have those either, even under DRM. Hmm...
But this is hardly the first DRM-free music download service. I've used eMusic off and on for years. How does this compare and how does it improve on the other DRM-free services that already exist? In the past, the main complaint about such services was the lack of mainstream music from major labels. Won't this be the same for Amazon's offering?
"You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
It wont work anywhere but the US, I would buy from it, but it seems their attitude towards the rest of the world seems to consist of "no, fuck off".
Lame, and they need to fix it, but anyhow.
Hmmm, is this going to become another spyware for me?
Will it be telling Amazon about my 'preferences' in order to 'suggest' more songs. which is not too bad if private info is kept, you know, private.
But are they going to sell this information (along with personal data) to 'marketers'?
I realize this is for albums only but still. A the cheaper price than iTunes, there is got to be a catch here (me thinks).
will work for Karma
Yeah sure, "Amazon MP3 Purchases are limited to U.S. customers."
As always. Hello, global economy...
According to a response on the Washington Post blog post about this, the download manager is required for album downloads, although not for single tracks. And ... "In addition, the download manager only works on XP, Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4 (or higher)." Unfortunately, I can't get to the Amazon site to check right now.
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
If I were to pay to download music, I would want it at much higher quality than any lossy file format could provide. Plus it's always nice to physical own a CD. It's nice to see the market broadening, but there has to be a downloadable music service that really suits my needs.
I had a quick look at how much music by Sibelius I can find, and it's over 200 albums, which, I think, is eccellent.
Nothing by the less-known composers like Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (the more talented son of J. S. Bach) but still, pretty satisfactory.
Sh*t - and just when I decided to save up some money for next summer.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Bill Gates paid $12 Million for the right to use "Start Me Up" to use with Windows.
:)
From the "Top 100 Best Sellers", I see that Linux users can get it for 89 cents.
Gawd, I love technology.
The Top 100 tracks http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/dmusic/digital-music-track are $0.89 each. I only had to go down to #17 to find one that I recognize (but wouldn't buy) - Blondie/Heart of Glass. A few steps down at #21 I found one to buy, Floyd/Comfortably Numb. All the other tracks (not top-100) on the double album are $0.99 or you can get all 26 tracks for $8.99. All 256 kbps non-drm'd files. This is how music buying should have been from day one.
Still, cool :) . I expect they'll bring this to Amazon worldwide soon.
EldavoJohn I agree with your comment regarding the fact that un-signed musicians are now able to advertise their content via Amazon.Com's Online Store however there are also many other vectors which are able to be used to promote un-signed artists, of which include Jamendo.Com; although the file format used is primarily an OGG file format, a format which multiple multimedia applications, of which include Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 and Apple iTunes are unable to process without the installation of an additional codec. Amazon.Com has become a serious consideration however it's a pity that that Online Store is only available to residents of the United States Of America, and, being a resident of the United Kingdom, I'm unable to use it. Until the Online Store is available in the United Kingdom, I will continue to perouse Jamendo.Com. http://www.jamendo.com/ - Jamendo.Com - Open Your Ears
I've purchased from the store on both the Mac and the PC and have to say it's a breeze to use. If you buy an album they've got a download manager for both platforms. Once that's installed, it's dead simple to buy & download. Somehow I've already spent $45... Seems much better than the competition. And no, I don't work for Amazon, I'm just a fan of the legitimate MP3 store. Good job, guys!
I may well be DRM free , but don't try sharing it cause your unique identifying ID may be in the file: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/10/1420225
Anyone know if these files are watermarked in any way?
One way to tell might be download the same track w/two different counts and diff the files.
But® can® we® really® do® anything® without® Laywers® ?®
Remember, the lawyers will want to seek stronger legal protections.
Not only is all new RIAA music DRM-free, it is also cost-free. And the cost-free, DRM-free music is completely legal in most countries, including the USA.
Just plug your radio into your sound card and sample for a couple of hours, then spend a few minutes editing and you will have the entire top 40. Much easier than downloading, either legal or illegal.
Of course, you still need either a download or a used record store to legally acquire good RIAA music; music that should no longer be under copyright in the first place.
And for the good new music, Kazaa and eDonkey are perfectly legal. I'm talking indie music here, bands who WANT you to hear them. Just be careful not to download that putrid RIAA drek by mistake, or they might sue you.
-mcgrew (there are links to free MP3s from the linked page)
I am webmaster of swactionnews.com and reviewstarwars.com and I'd like to share this, which was posted on my site a few minutes ago:
Buy music for a cause (Amazon DRM free MP3s)
No, the cause isn't saving the Earth, helping the poor, etc. The cause is fair use of what you own.
For too long we have been slaves to the corporations who truly run this country. One of those enslavers has been RIAA, who has for almost a decade now tried to push an obsolete business model onto us. They sue with reckless abandon, suing 90 year old grandmothers and 12 year olds who don't know better. They call it theft, yet no one is being deprived of anything.
Now, I'm not an Apple die-hard, but God love Steve Jobs, for he has helped us to break the shackles of RIAA just like his 1984 commercial showed the working class breaking the shackles that bound them, for his iPod has become popular enough, and powerful enough, to wrest the arms of RIAA into allowing DRM free music.
What is DRM free music? Put simply, it's music you can do anything with. Currently if you buy a digital song most places, like Wal Mart or Napster, you are limited where you can play it, how many computers you can play it on, etc. Same with iTunes. You are only allowed so many computers to play your songs. This was enforced by RIAA, scared that we would have one person pay $0.99 for a song and then give it away for free.
iTunes started allowing DRM free music, but it wasn't enough, for as anyone knows, iTunes purchased songs work only with iPods. Sure, it was a good first step as now a song you buy from iTunes would work with any computer, as many iPods as you own or go through in your life, but it wasn't enough. Additionally, they charged more for DRM free music...paying for freedom seems ironic to me. While it's better, it was really allowing one corporate overlord to replace another.
Now Amazon has stepped up in this war and brought TRUE free (free as in freedom, not free as in no cost) music to the people. DRM free MP3s.
Here's what you need to know:
*$0.99 per song, no additional fee for freedom
*Discounts if you buy entire albums at once.
*Tens of thousands of songs to choose from
*Popular new releases as well as some catalog (i.e. older) titles
*Older titles are cheaper on a per-album basis.
*256kBPS encoding means a higher quality sound than most all other digital music stores provide.
*Burn to as many CDs as you like
*Play on ANY MP3 player
*Put on as many computers as you like
*It's YOUR song.
When it comes time to buy a song or an album digitally, please, I implore you, buy from Amazon.com. We should support companies that provide the people with some rights.
Too often I say "Vote with your dollars" because, truly, those votes more than the ones at the ballot boxes influence the course of America. We need to vote with our dollars to show Amazon that we support them providing us with free (as in freedom) music. Then more labels will sell DRM free songs, and all other digital stores, record labels, and even Apple and RIAA, will see that we, the people, want free (as in freedom) music, and we care enough about it to vote with every song purchase we make.
I'm not urging a boycott of the other stores. If the Amazon DRM-free catalog doesn't have what you want, buy it elsewhere. I'm not saying go without. Nor am I suggesting you spend a penny more than you would elsewhere. But if it's the same cost, and the same song, vote for freedom.
I am putting here a commission-free link. I am an Amazon affiliate and usually get a commission from sales made when you click on links I provide. I provide this commission free...I don't want a commission on your sales, I want free (as in freedom) music. I want the corporations to bow to the greater GOOD. I want the people's rights to matter.
Please, if you buy music, go here first:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK1GR94T4PJ38D6
Thank you for supporting DRM-free music.
I can only hope that as bandwidth increases, peering technology gets better, that the I.T based music distribution model will scale to allow higher resolution Music to be available - one that allows resolution that is double or triple current cd sampling rates. Now that the media will become less of an issue, then this can be a real possibility and high quality digital music can take it's place amongst audiophiles - as well as portable music formats. This is a real hole that music companies dug for themselves persuing DRM for mp3's as they are nowhere near the quality of a cd, now they have no "Unique Selling Proposition" to the average music consumer who cannot tell the difference.
I also think the demise of the music companies will cause great leaps in the amount of artists available - and heaps more music as artists, who traditionally explore limits anyway, find new ways of reaching an audience - without being stiffled by the record companies accountants.
Even though your not the first to do it Amazon, thank you, your a big player - with any luck this is the begining of a new chapter for a new music industry - without the traditional players.
And as for the traditional music industry, I think RadioHead's song "Just" summed it up best with this lyric
You do it to yourself, you do, And that's what really hurts, Is that you do it to yourself, Just you and no one else, You do it to yourself
You do it to yourself
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I was hoping they took care of the high price problem as well as the incompatibility issues. I thouhgt they had except when I went to look up one of the bands I enjoyed while much younger.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/163856011
Note the banner on the top of the page. Top 100 Songs: 89 cents!
Here is the list;
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/dmusic/digital-music-track//ref=amb_link_5531872_1/103-2200715-4874201?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=ilm&pf_rd_r=13Y3V63RXKXRQFE4Z722&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=311420601&pf_rd_i=163856011
There are a couple golden oldies on the list, but most of them are newer stuff I never heard. Many of them are marked Explicit, so I know I never heard them on the radio. Just how do the explicit albums get popular to make the top 100? Peer to peer maybe?
Oldies on the list include;
I Walk the Line I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash
Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd
God Only Knows by The Beach Boys
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) by Stevie Wonder
Explicit stuff on the list include;
Can't Tell Me Nothing [Explicit] by Kanye West
I Got 5 On It [Explicit] by The Luniz
Give It To Me [Explicit] by Timbaland
In Da Club [Explicit] by 50 Cent
The People [Explicit] The People [Explicit] by Common
I guess there is enough variety to satisfy most everyone.
How about anything that is not top 100?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_dm_hp_nav_lk/102-3010256-9360139?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=styx&Go.x=8&Go.y=9&Go=Go
Rats.... Still 0.99 per track.
Sadly it is priced to not under price iTunes. DRM free on the other hand and at the higher bit rate should shake up the apple position with the higher priced DRM free tracks. Competition is good.
Someday, they may get into my price range for back catalog stuff.
The truth shall set you free!
Yep, it says US only, but I'm in the UK and I just purchased a song. When you are asked to confirm your billing address, put in a dummy US address. I used this:
"
1 Infinite Loop
New York
Cupertino, CA 95014
"
(Apple's US headquarters address - it's valid).
When asked for your phone number, put in your full international dialing number.
Result? It works. Raw MP3 downloads. Legal. I'm using a Mac, and it works fine with Firefox, Safari and with my iPod and on iTunes.
This seems to only be available for Americans, as a valid US address is required for checkout. Does anyone know if these purchases are available for Canadians or other international customers, and if so how to make them work?
cheers,
Andrew
I just listened to FM radio the other weekend and couldn't believe what a mess of crap it's become. If thats the stuff that the labels want us to pay for and add DRM, they aren't going to get a dime from me. I have Sirius, but thats a different story altogether.
I have no problem listening to Grand Funk Railroad, BTO, Alice Cooper, etc if thats the kind of stuff Amazon is serving up. I keep a huge directory of those old songs on my laptops.
What was it that Homer Simpson said about Rock N'Roll. It was perfected in (insert band) by (year in 1970's)?
In my link to the Styx stuff, I found out that the results didn't contain what I thought it did. This example is of just the newer Live releases. If you are looking for the old classic Babe on the Grand Illusion album, you are out of luck. It is not carried at this time.
Before purchase, make sure the song is the one you want. If you want the studio release instead of the live concert, be sure to check first.
The truth shall set you free!
And what happens if Amazon becomes the largest distributor and refuses to go the DRM-lockdown route in the future? (Which you know the labels are counting on. First they suck you off iTunes. Then they think they can change they rules as they see fit.)
Is Universal going to start crying again about only getting 70% of the sale and then pick up its marbles and go home?
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Tag this effectivebydesign maybe?
insight through the mind
Let me preface this by saying that I used to download music quite a bit from, well, non-legitimate sources. Then I stopped, because it started to become a pain in the ass. I didn't resume CD buying since the recording industry just pissed me off so much, so for the past few years I've been relying on the radio (terrestrial and net). I also kept away from the iTunes store and the like since the thought of DRM (not to mention installing iTunes) made my stomach turn.
All that changed just now when I read this story on Slashdot. I hopped on Amazon's site, bought 4 albums I've been wanting for a while (came to about $30). The downloader (which, surprisingly, is very minimal and does exactly and ONLY what it's supposed to do) worked great and now I have a bunch of DRM-free, high quality MP3s on my hard drive, complete with proper tags and album artwork.
Good god, could it be that someone's actually done it right?
I just bought an album I've been wanting for a while.
Error reading device 'Signature'. (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?
Nice but...I don't want any more MP3s. I don't think my hearing is especially great, but MP3s have an annoying something I call jingling in the region where (among other things) some part of percussion is. Ever since I first noticed this, MP3s have started to make me grimace. Not all of them, but enough of them that I am not paying for more MP3s. My Vorbis files don't suffer from the same problem, so I'm happy most of my music is in that format.
If I can buy major-label music in Vorbis format again, I might.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
The reason this is only available with a US credit card is that different labels have rights to different music in each country. The legal and administrative costs of doing licensing deals with 100s of different labels just for the US were very high. If the US store is successful, Amazon will do deals allowing delivery of content elsewhere. If you use iTunes from GBR you get a different selction of songs as well. Also Amazon appears to have content from 2 of the 4 major labels from my quick review of the site.
Yes this does seem to work, put in the same address you used, but used a UK visa card, lord knows what sort of checking it does against your credit card company, because that definately isnt a registered billing address for the card i used! Bit worrying really, as that means anyone can use anyones credit card without knowing anything but the card number and expiry date. i wasnt asked for dob or security code at all!
Nice speed though, i had finished downloading 2 albums by the time id finished this post
...by the record companies, then music CDs - which are generally DRM-free - should also be on their (s)hit list (ah crap; a re-entrant joke this way comes) 'cos they're just as easily reproduced/ripped and illegally distributed. After all, that's where the whole MP3 music revolution began. The music industry can never win with the outdated business model they are using, because DRM really is irrelevant and can never hope to stop piracy - arrr! And the only true viable alternative is to release their music for free then do what the artist does: make gains from the merchandising and touring. It's the only way they'll survive. --- I like to inappropiately touch myself.
One other thing to note is that their terms of service explicitly state that you are only receiving a license, and there are restrictions on what is allowed by that license. For the most part you can do anything that would be considered fair use, but there are a few exceptions. For example you may not resell the files, or "modify or edit them" even for personal use.
So you don't have quite as many "rights" as you would buying a CD, but at least they are trusting their customers to follow the law rather than punishing everyone with DRM.
Is Amazon watermarking or hashing these, so that when they show up on Torrent sites, they can prove wrongdoing?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Yeah, that kind of surprises me, too - they're not on iTunes, Yahoo! Music, or Napster. I seem to remember someone from the band making a public statement to the effect that they thought single-song sales were a violation of their artistic vision, or some such.
If I didn't already have every US-released CD from them, I'd be downloading like mad before the band notices that their songs are on there...
Even if they get to second place behind emusic they'll still have a long way to go to get to iTunes level.
I spent an hour on the phone with Amazon because I purchased a track from them in Omniweb. After installing the downloader and purchasing the track, it said I had downloaded the file already, but I hadn't. The guy unlocked the download again and I tried with Safari and it worked fine.
We didn't try with firefox, but omniweb is definitely not supported correctly by the downloader.
I'm simply afraid that the only reason the labels have provided Amazon has DRM-free music is to entice such a move away from Apple and the iTunes store. Once accomplished, the labels will "re-negotiate" their contracts with both Apple and Amazon and once again require DRM'ed downloads on both sides, pointing to the inevitably pirated DRM-free tracks that they "found" on the web.
Apple won't be able to say no, since they'll have lost the market share "clout" with which to do so, and Amazon won't, since failure to comply would mean losing their new online music store/profit center.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
in the dam on progress called the R.I.A.A.
It's only paranoia if your wrong...
How about offering DRM-free LOSSLESS music? damn it! I was hoping they would offer lossless as well. :'(
Yes, that's the ticket. Let's trade non-DRMed tracks that play on every digital music playing device built in the last 10 years for a format that won't play on an iPod or in Windows Media Player.
Good idea.
If Amazon had released a store that sold Vorbis today, everyone would say "huh?". Vorbis fans represent 0.001% of the digital music buying market. Even most people who do buy an iRiver probably have never even heard of OGG.
If you want DRM-free music that works everywhere, I suggest you get over this because the world is not going to go Vorbis before more people start selling MP3 and further entrench that format. Sorry.
Many of them are marked Explicit, so I know I never heard them on the radio. Just how do the explicit albums get popular to make the top 100? Peer to peer maybe? Radio/tv edits, more likely. At least with the kids.
the download manager is required for album downloads, although not for single tracks... the download manager only works on XP, Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4 (or higher)
I noticed the albums are priced lower than the cost of the sum of the individual tracks. Does this mean that if you want to download all the tracks on an album that you could consider it a Linux Tax?
Give him the virtual thumbs-up (or thumbs-down ... or a display of other assorted fingers?) in this text chat on Monday. Werner Vogels, Amazon.com, CTO will be doing a live chat, open to all on Monday, October 1, 2 p.m. eastern.
Or maybe you can tell him what you think of their new Website in general. They are asking for comments.
Even without DRM, I have a BIG problem with downloadable music. What's that you ask? You can't RESELL it. I buy a CD, even a used CD often for less than the $0.99/song that iTunes is charging, and if I later tire of it I can legally sell it to someone else. If I tire of a digital download, that's it. Just try selling your DRM-free bit collections on Amazon or eBay and see how far you get...
I took a look around and they have a few songs by the bands I like but not the specific songs I want and no whole albums.
That's too bad.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I was buying 89 and 99 cent MP3s all morning. Great stuff! 256Kbps VBR. Even the album art is around 800x600. The only problem I see with the encoding is that it's done in "Joint Stereo" rather than regular ol' stereo. I don't know if it makes a difference in perceived stereo separation at that high of a bitrate, but I told Amazon to cut that out.
How much money do you realistically get for your CDs? How many CDs have you really sold? How much effort are you willing to put into it?
Used music stores buy used CDs at cheap as all heck prices ($2 each last one I went to).
I haven't sold any CDs I didn't like, it's just not worth it.
-- From Amazon's MP3 Music Service: Terms of Use --
"you agree that you will not redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, sub-license or otherwise transfer or use the Digital Content."
--
Well apparently you can do whatever you want, but... don't you dare "USE" the Digital Content. Sounds like they covered all the bases.
-oo-(tm)
I bought one old Johnny Winter song as a test. I was asked to download and install their download and iTunes installation application, which I did. My credit card was billed, but the download of the song never happened.
I just sent a customer support email, and will report back later if this issue was resolved.
Funny how the song "1234" by Feist that's featured in the blast of new iPod commercials is also the top of the Amazon download charts.
Mispachah TACT songs for $.10 less than iTunes in a format that I don't have to burn to CD and subsequently rip to OGG to get the DRM off it. Thank you Amazon.
DRM-Free music is what I've been waiting for, I just bought 170 songs....
Music under the Free Art License, the GNU General Public License,[1] or the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License is copyrighted, but it's still Free. On the other hand, have the major labels ever published Free musical recordings in more than token amounts?
[1] I'd interpret the copyleft requirement such that mid/s3m/xm is "source code" and wav/mp3/ogg is "object code" for a musical recording.
I just bought a track for $0.99, and it was pretty painless. The file was an MP3 encoded at 256Kbps, which is fine for me. I don't like the one-click deal though, and there is no way to buy albums unless you're using OS X or Windows. If they'd fix those it would be golden. In the MP3 file metadata they include in the Comments field something along the lines of: "Amazon.com Song ID: 123456789" probably to have some minimalistic tracking of who shares their songs.
-- From Amazon's MP3 Music Service: Terms of Use --
"you agree that you will not redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, sub-license or otherwise transfer or use the Digital Content."
That sentence starts out, "Except as set forth in Section 2.1 above, you agree..." Section 2.1, in its entirety, says, "Upon your payment of our fees for Digital Content, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Digital Content for your personal, non-commercial, entertainment use, subject to and in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. You may copy, store, transfer and burn the Digital Content only for your personal, non-commercial, entertainment use." This is exactly what you'd expect, except maybe the non-transferrable part.
Quoting a partial sentence the way you did, I'm tempted to think you're just trolling.
This is great for customers, as it looks like real competition to the iTunes Music Store. No DRM, many songs and albums cheaper, looks nice. I'd prefer a better codec than mp3 (like AAC) but at 256kbps it's pretty nice.
It's even better for Apple, as it strengthens their hand in negotiations with the labels. The labels want higher prices and DRM, but Apple can point to Amazon and say that both negotiating points are uncompetitive. A strong Amazon music store will force the labels into contracts that are better for customers.
As a long-term Apple user, I hope Amazon succeeds and we have real competition in online music stores. Who knows? In a year or two we may be wondering what that whole music DRM thing was all about.
Heard a review of KT Tunstall's new "Drastic Fantastic" album on the radio while driving home today, saw Amazon MP3's open beta, and thought -- hey, let's give this a try. Report card:
* Quality of the encode: A.
The files are encoded at in VBR at an _average_ bitrate of 256K. A great-sounding encode, certainly as good as the encodes I rip myself. And yes, I am one of those people who can hear the difference between 128K and 256KVBR, and wouldn't think of listening to anything at a lower bitrate.
* Finding and purchasing the album on the web site: A.
Enter artist name in search box, click on album cover, click "buy". Done.
* Getting the album via the download manager: A.
Download manager installs with NSIS installer, runs in system tray while downloading, unloads itself when done. Manager registers itself as the handler for files with the ".amz" extension, and corresponding MIME type. Simple and elegant.
* Configuring the download manager to put the music where I want it to: A.
File -> preferences -> Pick an output destination. I changed the destination while the album was in mid-download, and it picked up everything from the old location and put it in the new, on the fly. Pretty impressive.
* Reviewing legal terms and whatnot: A.
Nice clear links about what you are getting into. Files are free of DRM, but the license explictly says you cannot share the files with others. Not sure that is strictly enforceable legally, but the point was pretty clear that these files are for you, yourself, alone. People should read the fine print, but there's nothing hidden here.
* Price: B.
Entire album: $8.99. Hey, sure beats normal CD prices, but really, they can do better. Distribution costs are just _slightly_ lower than the normal retail channel!
* Overall: A-.
Amazon MP3 has my vote. I'll probably use this service a lot.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
<RANT>Geez! You people make me sick! All you know how to do is complain! Finally somebody does something right, and all you can do is pick it to pieces! What the hell's the matter with you people anyway?</RANT>
As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the required download application for full albums is for Windows and Mac only. While the Wine and VM solutions are decent workarounds, it would be nice not to rely on that. I have looked around for a suggest/comment box type of form to submit to them but have not found anything. If anyone knows of such a way to submit feedback, please post it here so we may all use it and show to need for a Linux or cross-platform client.
I had eMusic for a while, and canceled... the problem is that I am a binge buyer. I might buy a track here and there over a few months, but suddendly decide I want a few albums.
That combined with most eMusic stuff not being quite to my tastes, and it was getting to be too much work to justify the monthly fee (which felt an awful lot like a subscription even if I was getting something I could keep out of the deal).
I do like supporting the concept but I just wis there were a way to spend less there to do so.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
eMusic.com offers 2 million DRM-free songs for less than 33 cents each. I don't know if these are the same 2 million songs as Amazon offers (I'm only halfway through the list now) but it's a much better deal...
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Now all we need is a good old fashioned price war to get the price down to AllOfMp3 levels. I had hoped that Amazon would copy the AllOfMp3 format model (Any encoding you want priced per MB) but this is pretty close. As I'm sure you all know, AllOfMp3 is still going.
There' millions of bands that release their music for free. I'll continue to support those bands by downloading thier music and attending their gigs. The big guys in music aren't all they're cracked up to be.
When you try to order, it asks for a new billing address, one in the US. So I gave it a fake one and happily bought and downloaded some songs.
:D
I did put in as much real street/town information, so it might be a good enough match for Visa to let it through. We'll see what happens when they actually try to bill this to my card!
US-only ???? WHY ? :-P
Hope they don't do a 1 on 1 conversion from USD to EURO when they open their shop for Europe. USD isn't worth shit anymore... would love to buy in USD
eMusic music search/browse page
Ahh. Super. Many thanks.
From Amazon MP3 frequently asked questions: "Your Amazon MP3 Music purchases can only be downloaded once. After you have successfully downloaded the file to your computer at the time of purchase, we recommend that you create a backup copy." That is so silly. It would have been really simple for them to let us download again whatever song we have purchased.
So far I've downloaded Smashing Pumpkins and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, paid about $8 each. The downloader app needed to download entire albums is simple and easy to configure, you just tell it what folder you want your music saved to (default is My Documents\My Music\Amazon MP3), and whether to automatically add music to your WMP or iTunes collection (I use neither.)
:)
I've never liked iTunes and haven't bought anything from them, but I'm a regular Amazon.com customer. I think this will really open up music downloads to a wide range of people. Amazon.com should stress how their downloads are different and unrestricted.
The selection seems pretty good so far. I hope it's not too good because I don't want to spend all my money on MP3s.
In addition to being DRM-free, I was finally able to get "Mad World" from the Donnie Darko soundtrack without having to buy the whole album.
Not only did installing their downloader delete a completely unrelated Desktop Shortcut, but the frickin' song download never occured. "Jeff S." at Amazon customer service refused to refund my $0.89. The first and the last time I ever try to download anything from Bezos and His Brain-Dead Baboons.
I'm an independent musical artist who releases their own music online. I want to get my music onto Amazon MP3 but cannot find out (so far) how to do it. I've searched their FAQ, and tried emailing Amazon but just get a generic auto-response saying to read their FAQ. Googling gives no joy either, probably since it's so new.
I tried to download a song and found there isn't even a "Country" option, so I'm guessing (but praying otherwise) it's just for US citzens and US bands.
Anyone the wiser? Or know if they plan to release it worldwide in the near future?
SOULARFLAIR
www.soularflair.net
www.myspace.com/soularflair
MOD AMAZON UP +1 FOR OPEN SOURCE CHOPS
I guess the labels are still not convinced that DRM-free music is the only way to go.
I found a music download store that lets you purchase a la carte or subscribe. It's better for people that have a non-iPod device. emusic makes you subscribe but at mTraks.com you can purchase DRM-free either way. The site is open too so, you are not forced into a subscription. Cool. http://www.mtraks.com/