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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."

18 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. Obligitory by El_Smack · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    Bittorrent?

    --


    There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
    1. 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.

    2. Re:Obligitory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      A lot of the 95% complete torrents are seeded by the MAFIAA or their minions like MediaDefender.

  2. 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 Lussarn · · Score: 5, Funny

      what's the point of paying for mp3's you wont legally own?

      What's the point of legally owning an mp3?

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

  3. I tried it out yesterday by SiChemist · · Score: 5, Informative

    I tried the store out yesterday (bought 1 track) and was very impressed. No special software needed (making it Linux friendly). This might just get me back into buying music again instead of listening to all my old stuff.

    --
    God is imaginary
    1. Re:I tried it out yesterday by QuantumRiff · · Score: 5, Informative

      Per their FAQ:
      If you use Linux, you can currently buy individual songs. A Linux version of the Amazon MP3 Downloader is under development, and when released will allow entire album purchases.

      That is really nice to see!

      --

      What are we going to do tonight Brain?
  4. 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...

  5. Missing something? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "the lack of DRM truly makes it YOUR music"... and YOURS, and YOURS, and HIS, and HER, and THEIR.

  6. Re:iPod sync? by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Funny

    don't worry - you don't appear as an Apple fanboy.
     
    You appear as an idiot. If the distinction is meaningful is up to you.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  7. Re:I Can Think Of A Better One by Constantine+XVI · · Score: 5, Funny

    Amazon does sell .cdas of music. It's DRM-free too. Thing is, it takes forever to download, but you get a free frisbee and storage case for the trouble.

    --
    "I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
  8. Magnatune has lossless downloads by cutecub · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The indy music store/label Magnatune has both lossy and lossless music downloads. They're a good example of what's possible:

    There are 5 major formats availabe to buyers:
    • 44k/16bit WAV: zip file of perfect quality WAV files.
    • FLAC: zip file of perfect quality FLAC files.
    • OGG: zip file of high quality OGG files.
    • 128kb MP3: zip file of 128kb MP3 files.
    • MP3 VBR: zip of high quality MP3 VBR files.

    -S
  9. Re:MP3 piracy irrelevant by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Informative

    Some of their MP3s are in fact watermarked, but by the label, not amazon (at least not yet).

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  10. Re:MP3 sounds bad to my ears by afay · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The question is not whether you can distinguish one from the other. Anyone can do that. The question is, if you're not told beforehand (blind), can you pick out the higher quality recording more than 50% of the time. And the answer is you can't.

    --
    Best slashdot comment
  11. You can't be serious. by Leviathant · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's funny! At one time I thought the same thing. Anecdote: I was going through the tedious task of ripping my CDs, and after going through my collection of Nine Inch Nails and Autechre discs, I got the bright idea that instead of ripping my Aphex Twin collection, I'd just download a torrent. Same end result, right? I figured Aphex Twin fans would be fairly careful about audio fidelity, so I grabbed a torrent of some giganto Aphex Twin collection.

    The end result was all over the map. Sure, there were a number of albums that were alright, some of them were terrible, with skips and low bitrates and mistitled songs, not to mention whole albums of "rare and unreleased" mislabeled garbage that wasn't even by Aphex Twin. I would have better spent my time continuing to rip them myself.

    Alternatively, if I didn't already own the CDs, I would have happily bought large chunks of the Aphex Twin catalog from Bleep.com, which has been doing the DRM-free $1 MP3 download thing for over three years now.

    --
    I am Leviathant and I approve this message.
  12. Re:BZZZZT by mycroft822 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, they were doing you a favor by not letting you buy it. Elton John? Seriously?