Amazon VS. iTunes

[Rich Tate]

Most analysts are stating that the new Amazon service might be the first potential threat to the iTunes empire. Before you jump in, have a look at this head-to-head comparison to find out which service deserves your hard earned money.

Amazon.com has launched a public beta of Amazon MP3, a digital music store that provides DRM-free downloads of over 2 million songs from 180,000 artists and 20,000 labels. In comparison, Apple says the iTunes Store now contains over 6 million songs.

 

[TechLarry]

As much as I like iTunes, I have to agree.

Not because it's a better experience (it's not even close), but it comes down to numbers and DRM.

The songs cost the same or are cheaper. From what I can tell, albums are cheaper.

And there is no DRM.

Files are in 256k MP3, a comparable quality to Apple's 160k premium tracks, and probably better than their 128k standard tracks.

IMHO, Apple will need to do two things to stay competitive:

1. They need to get rid of the DRM. They are working on this. It's up to the labels, really.

2. They need to start a subscription model as an option. $10 a month all you can eat, like the rest of the major music stores.

If they don't, then I do indeed believe Amazon will take a big bite out of Apple's ass.

 

[SamuraiInBlack]

I suppose for bandwidth purposes they don't go higher than 256kbps huh? Kinda sucks. I like my high quality. It just sucks that I have to buy the CD first to do it, then rip it myself. Granted, some say there's better than 320kbps mp3, but the support isn't there for most players, last I understood

I would be willing to pay a bit extra (I'm thinking $1.25 or so?) for a high quality DRM-free version of a song. Moreso if it's not proprietary and will work on most mp3 players (i.e. Zen, Zunes, and Ipods come to mind)

Just my two cents. But I have to agree with TechLarry. This is a step in the right direction.

 

[hbar98]

The biggest question concerning an iTunes subscription service is, "Can the ipods be made to work with it." It just isn't in the software, the players also have to support subscription models so that when your subscription is up you can't play the song anymore.

And if Apple could do a firmware update, would that firmware be compatible with their 1G line of ipods?

I'm going to hold off buying a new player until this all gets sorted out.

 

[SuperSubZero]

I used the Amazon service the other day. I downloaded a song. The quality was fine, it was error-free, and with no DRM.

I didn't see a way to really search on the site. Unless they added such a function since a few days ago. That wasn't so good since there's a particular song I'm ready to buy as soon as I find it.

 

[kmeson]

The site is beta and it feels like it.

You can search Amazon's MP3 site but it's not very good yet. Right near the top of the site, on the left hand side, is a big "Search" text box along site a combo. Select "MP3 Downloads" in the combo then type in your search text in to the edit box on the right.

I purchased a few 'albums' last Thursday. At that time many of the genre categories included artist/songs that didn't belong. For example Pink Floyd's "The Wall" was in nearly every genre: Folk, R&B, POP, Rock, Alternative, etc... Sure it can be categorized in all those genres but doing so dilutes the purpose. Might has well have one category called music, it would be as helpful.

Other than Fake Science, Amazon is the only other store I've purchased music downloads from. I've used iTunes but only for the free tracks, e.g. John Hodgman's book "The Areas of My Expertise". I do not support DRM and I vote with my wallet.

So far none of the online music stores will replace CD/SACD for me. For music that I don't place a high value on I'll buy lossycompressed non-DRM'd versions.

Overall I'm pleased with Amazon's entry into online music sales. I think it will hasten DRM's demise in audio and bring better prices for the consumer. Once that's done perhaps the labels can get back to producing quality music.

 

[InorganicMatter]

I used it the other day; it was great. I installed the very small and light client, and set my browser to always open the download script. I hit "download this album now" on Amazon, and conducted the money transaction using Amazon's standard checkout system. A bubble notification popped up from the Amazon system tray service saying it started downloading. A few minutes later, another button popped up saying it was done. The music was automatically added to my iTunes library and marked for sync to my iPod. The music was properly tagged with some nice high-res artwork.

 

[frizzybangs]