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Review of Amazon's DRM-Less Music Download Store

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the gosh-you-mean-if-i-buy-it-i-can-keep-it dept.

fdmendez writes to tell us that he had a chance to check out Amazon's DRM-less music download store that was recently released as a beta trial. "Amazon one-ups the iTunes store in every way except for popularity. Never once did I find an album to be more expensive on the Amazon store in comparison to the iTunes store. The download experience was pleasant, and the lack of DRM truly makes it YOUR music. I don't know of any other download service that could top the Amazon MP3 store."

5 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. I do... by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know of any other download service that could top the Amazon MP3 store.

    AllOfMP3.

    1. Re:I do... by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not only that, I find it endlessly amusing people see buying a digital replica of a song a good deal, especially when you work out the prices. I worked it out yesterday. The album I was looking at was a mere dollar cheaper in MP3 format. So that extra dollar gets you a physical disk you can make your own MP3's from, or if you want lossless, quality sound, FLAC format, (not an option when all you have is an MP3) all the packaging etc...

      It's like settling for a JPG of the Mona Lisa.

    2. Re:I do... by ConanG · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What if you only want a single song from that album? If you buy the disk, it's NOT cheaper than buying the one song.

      It's not like settling for a jpg of the Mona Lisa. It's like buying just the Mona Lisa jpg instead of a collection of artwork that includes the Mona Lisa. Maybe the rest of that artwork is crap.

      Back to the album...maybe you don't want to go through the trouble of converting it yourself. Maybe you don't want to mess with CDs at all. There are plenty of reasons why it's a better choice to buy a single off an album rather than the entire album.

  2. Competition is good. by mattgreen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hope this service takes off, as competition between iTunes and other services only means less DRM, higher quality songs, and better selection for all of us. Amazon just needs to land some deals with record labels...

  3. Re:Obligitory by p0tat03 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean the service where everybody leeches, resulting in complete lack of bandwidth available to downloaders unless you're in an exclusive, ratio-metered club?

    Or the one that really only works for popular albums, as anything old or otherwise unpopular and non-mainstream will have no seeders?

    Even accounting for the $0 price tag, Bittorrent has a LONG way to go to rival ANY paid music store.