Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Apple is Dead! Amazon Music downloads are actually pretty good

So... Amazon's MP3 download store opened today (Sept. 25 2007) and it's actually good! The only negative I've got is selection, which ought to improve since the music labels have a huge incentive for helping an Apple competitor. Otherwise: Better Quality than the Apple/iTunes music store. Same price (or cheaper). No DRM (digital rights management - aka copy protection) so it's easier to put on other computers or non-iPod devices. Works well with iTunes (if you download the optional Amazon downloader - required for full Album downloads - it will automatically add the purchased music to iTunes if you want). I didn't see a reason to buy from Apple's store vs. buying a CD. My MP3's converted (ripped) from CD are higher quality, usually the same price, and have no copy protection. Amazon downloads are the same quality (256 bit average VBR) I would encode myself, cheaper ($8.99 for the current Nickel Creek Album for example - vs $14.99 for the CD CD) and all around pretty easy. I'm tempted to use the Amazon music download much more than Apple's. And I own an iPod (like most music downloaders), so I'm the target audience.

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