Amazon Unveils DRM-Free Music Store

Amazon MP3
Amazon has unveiled their long awaited music store called Amazon MP3. It’s very similar to other digital music store, except for the fact that Amazon MP3 is the one of the first major store to sells DRM-free music. The service currently offers over 2 million DRM-free MP3s encoded at 256Kbps for as little as $0.89 or $0.99. Out of the entire 2 million songs, nearly half of the songs sell for $0.89. Albums go for $10, but some are available for as cheap as $6. Of course, DRM-free means there is no copy protection. In other words, users will be able to play the song on any device of their choice, or even burn the songs to CDs

When purchasing songs, you’ll have to use Amazon’s MP3 downloader application to download and automatically push those songs to your iTunes of Windows Media Player Library.

Amazon MP3 is currently in its public beta, and anybody with an Amazon Account can start purchasing music from their store. The pricing doesn’t equate well with iTunes Plus service, where DRM-free music sells for $1.29. Looks like Apple has a real reason to worry, or maybe drop their pricing. Let’s hope that Amazon MP3 runs successfully and gives some strong competition to iTunes. Competition is always favorable to the consumers.

Source: Engadget

This post was published by on September 26, 2007

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/author/timmyj/ TimmyJ

    Agreed, let’s hope this our musical future. I just wrote about it over at CI too. Finally a reason for me to go the Apple route for MP3 players.

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  • http://www.house-md-blog.com Daniel Larsson

    This is fantastic news! An alternative to iTunes and the ‘DRM-nuts’!

    I have actually met and talked to Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com founder) back in 1999 and I have to say that my impression was that he is a very intelligent man.

    I personally love Amazon.com, and since finding out that my 3 seasons of House was $50 (that’s over 40%)!! more at Bestbuy than Amazon I have a hard time going to a physical store again!

  • http://www.squidoo.com/get-a-6pack Get A Six Pack

    Are really so many people buying music online? Surely theres lots of free ways… Everyone must be behaving themselves and buying online

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