Amazon has made the important, if vague, announcement that its DRM-free MP3 downloads will be made available internationally starting in 2008.
Taking its content from all four major record labels internationally will strengthen its position as a superior DRM-free music provider to Apple’s iTunes Store, which doesn’t even offer content from all the major labels yet. Amazon currently provides 3.3M songs from 270,000+ artists, encoded at 256kbps, and priced anywhere between 89 and 99 cents each. Things are similar with iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free music collection: songs are 99 cents each and encoded at 256kbps. However, Apple only provides “up to 2 million iTunes Plus songs” in comparison to Amazon’s 3.3M, giving the latter company a substantial edge with its scope.
Amazon’s MP3 store launched in September and signed up the last major label just this month. The company is declining to provide a “specific launch timeline for individual Amazon international websites.”
If anyone’s curious, it’s likely the first countries to get this will be Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China, and Japan. See here for details:
http://www.techconsumer.com/20.....e-in-2008/
qtrax is down. lawl.
Last.fm needs to add an unlimited Mp3 download subscription for something like $5 or $10 providing unlimited DRM-free Mp3 downloads in the subscription.
I’m actually surprised it took this long. iTunes has had so many problems in other countries because of its DRM that it only makes sense for Amazon to jump in and gain some traction.
In fact, if I might stray just a bit, I really think Amazon should be putting more into this business in general. They are in the unique position of having both the major suppliers (who are more than a little sick of Jobs dictating terms) AND the media (who love an underdog and hate DRM) rooting for them. Why they aren’t pressing that advantage is beyond me.
It just seems like this is an obscure side project for Amazon when it should be an main focus. I suspect improving the interface alone could net them a lot more customers and those are the kinds of changes they should make BEFORE pushing into new markets.
Given the huge number of listener in Indian market and no good mp3 download store, I would like to see Amazon.com sign deals with big labels in India and selling the mp3’s online. There is a huge potential that has to be explored in other markets.
iTunes, was a great way to get the market going, and now its time for something much better.
I wonder what that means for countries, like say Australia, who don’t have their own Amazon store.
Very cool.
You made it sound, though, like iTunes Plus and Amazon’s MP3s are equivalent in quality since they use the same bitrate. In theory, that’s not the case, since iTunes uses the more modern/advanced (but less compatible) AAC format instead of MP3. In theory, a 128kbps AAC is roughly equivalent in quality to a 256kbps MP3, thus, iTunes Plus in theory has the edge.
In practice? Who knows.
Yay! Finally Canada gets some love.
this is very cool…..
go amazon!!!
john, owner
vanguardsf.net
@Don - Thanks for pointing that out about sound quality; I wasn’t aware of the AAC/MP3 distinction.
Well done amazon.
xperts.net.pk
With an economic apocalypse looming the U.S., Apple should start becoming less provincial.
“You made it sound, though, like iTunes Plus and Amazon’s MP3s are equivalent in quality since they use the same bitrate. In theory, that’s not the case, since iTunes uses the more modern/advanced (but less compatible) AAC format instead of MP3. In theory, a 128kbps AAC is roughly equivalent in quality to a 256kbps MP3, thus, iTunes Plus in theory has the edge.
In practice? Who knows.”
In theory and practice you are totally wrong. Here are the results of a double-blind listening test with 18 samples using between 12 and 27 listeners per sample. It found that Lame MP3 at 128 kbits is statistically identical to iTunes AAC at 128 kbits. I don’t think its much of a stretch to say that MP3 at 192~256 kbits will sound better than AAC at 128 kbits despite the benefit of any theoretical benefits that AAC possesses.
http://www.rjamorim.com/test/m.....sults.html
Another listening test with similar results is here:
http://www.listening-tests.inf.....esults.htm
Has anyone else noticed that Amazon’s MP3 search function needs help? I’ve had a hard time finding the tracks I want at times and I think it could use some improvement. Maybe there’s some neat trick to it of which I’m not aware.
Great.