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.

Comments

Store in beta?

[Anonymous Coward]

So if while testing I get some music for free, do I have to return it?

True, however ...

[eldavojohn]

Of course, without DRM few of the major labels play with them. That may be true but why not view this as a way to stick it to iTunes and other music services? Everyone on this site has been complaining about wanting an alternative way to get DRM free music so they can stop paying money to a broken, defective by design system known as DRM. Now put your money where your mouth is and rid yourself of iTunes. The music selection may not be as great but if everyone moves, you can make a difference. Not to mention this is probably the best thing to happen to unsigned artists looking to make some quick easy cash even though it may not be much.

Re:True, however ...

[lexarius]

iTunes happily offers non-DRM songs (with higher bitrate, for 30 cents extra). Problem: Labels don't want to. The only problem that record companies have with iTunes is that Apple doesn't let them set prices however they like. Apple is, as usual, a bit of a control freak here, but I think we've seen that record companies shouldn't be trusted with things like setting prices on music.

Re:True, however ...

[heelrod]

But (tm), can (tm) we (tm) really (tm) do (tm) anything (tm) without (tm) Lawyers (tm) ? (tm)

Re:True, however ...

[RDW]

'Everyone on this site has been complaining about wanting an alternative way to get DRM free music so they can stop paying money to a broken, defective by design system known as DRM. Now put your money where your mouth is and rid yourself of iTunes.'

Sounds good! And I just spotted an album I want at about half the UK CD/iTunes price. But then I clicked on the T&C and got:

'5. Territorial Restrictions

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

Cheers. If I'm lucky it'll soon be available on this side of the pond at the usual 1 USD = 1 GBP exchange rate for 'digital content'...

Re:True, however ...

[CastrTroy]

There's already been DRM free music for quite a while. People like to complain that the music isn't available online without DRM, but aren't willing to vote with their wallet, and stop buying music from bands and labels that require DRM to download songs. Currently I get all my music from eMusic. It doesn't have everything I want, but it does have a lot of good music. I'd rather have music for about $3-$5 an album, than have to put up with DRM'd files, or paying $15 for a single album on CD.

Re:True, however ...

[Tumbleweed]

Cheers. If I'm lucky it'll soon be available on this side of the pond at the usual 1 USD = 1 GBP exchange rate for 'digital content'...

Shipping costs, ya know. :)

Re:True, however ...

[tfoss]

What I find odd, is that of the small sample I just checked on, there are lots of songs that Amazon has DRM-free that iTMS has, but not DRM-free. Lots of small labels seem to not have their catalogs DRM-free on iTunes...I wonder why that is?

-Ted

" Zunes"

[evwah]

" 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.

Re:" Zunes"

[Anonymous Coward]

You must have forgotten about Microsoft's Zune-only technology, PlaysForSureReallyWeAreTotallyNotKiddingThisTime (tm).

eMusic

[poached]

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.

Re:eMusic

[Basilius]

Also, the new eMusic Remote downloading software works on Linux. Linux support had been a bit problematical before.

Re:eMusic

[garcia]

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.

Worst part is that they require a subscription and you can't buy a single track like you apparently can with Amazon without paying for the month. You are correct that their library is limited and while, for now, it seems you must download some sort of application to do mass downloading from Amazon, you can purchase single tracks without it.

I really don't care for eMusic adding a tagline to your user agent when surfing. I really don't need people knowing which music service I use:

(Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.1) Gecko/20061204 Firefox/2.0.0.1 eMusic DLM/4.0a5_1.0b1"

Re:eMusic

[CastrTroy]

But the advantage is that you can get 30 tracks for $10. If you don't want to spend $10, or download 30 tracks a month, then eMusic may not be for you. But even if you only download 11 tracks for the $10, you still save over the $0.99 music stores like iTunes. I think this is due to the fact that their credit card transaction costs would be too high if you only bought 1 or 2 songs a month. I find that eMusic works well as an addition to the music you usually buy on CD. Because a subscription can be had for as little as $10, it isn't going to break your budget, and you still have money left over to buy music from elsewhere.

Major Labels?

[fishybell]

Well let's see...Spoon? check. Apples in Stereo? check. Radiohead, Bowie, Beach Boys? check, check, check. Pink Floyd, Hendrix, Nirvana? all check.

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.

Re:Major Labels?

[fishybell]

The downloader appears to only be necessary to download entire albums, not individual songs. If you click "Buy MP3 Album" you get the download or cancel purchase page. If you click "Buy MP3" you get a page that recommends you download the downloader (to download the song), but you can click "Skip Installation" and download the file directly.

Decent Selection

[Scootin159]

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.

256k mp3s

[CottonThePirate]

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.

Re:256k mp3s

[Volanin]

You are right.
From Amazon's MP3 FAQ:

"Bit Rate: Where possible, we encode our MP3 files using variable bitrates for maximum audio quality and smaller file sizes, aiming at an average of 256 kilobits per second (kbps). Using a variable bitrate allows us to allocate a higher bitrate to the more complex sections of music files while using a smaller bitrate for the less complex sections. The average of these rates is then calculated to produce an average bit rate for the entire file that represents the overall sound quality. Some of our content is encoded using a constant bitrate of 256 kbps. This content will have the same excellent audio quality at a slightly larger file size."

Download Manager

[LMacG]

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.

Re:Download Manager

[Guttata]

I use Linux almost exclusively, and I checked it out. Initially I feared that to buy a whole album, I'd either have to wait for a Linux version of the download manager, or I would have to pay extra by downloading tracks individually. Luckily, it appears that the download manager works fine under Wine (although it tries to launch iTunes after the download, and that fails somewhat gracefully). I end up with my music in a directory under ~/Amazon\ MP3. BTW, looking at the file with xxd, it appears the files are encoded with Lame 3.97.

Re: Useful, Only If You're A Resident Of the U.S.A

[ScottAS]

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

This works outside the US

[Gossi]

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.

Re:This works outside the US

[Snowgen]

Result? It works. Raw MP3 downloads. Legal.

Provided that your definition of legal means "obtained in violation of the terms of service and by providing fraudulent information to bypass the compliance checks."

Re:This works outside the US

[rkanodia]

1 Infinite Loop
New York
Cupertino, CA 95014

Look's like it's not just Americans who can't be bothered to learn geography.

Re:Haha - Bill Gates and the Rolling Stones

[Dogtanian]

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. Nice one :-)

But seriously, Bill Gates didn't pay $12 Million for "Start Me Up". He paid 89 cents like everyone else.

What he paid $11,999,999.11 for was the right to leave out the line "You make a grown man cry".