Amazon to Launch Digital Music Download Store

[mandy]

Online retail giant Amazon.com has finally announced what has long been rumored -- its plans to enter the online music download market. Amazon has long expressed its intentions to only enter the market if it could sell songs free of digital rights management restrictions, and it appears to have gotten its way by partnering with EMI and thousands of smaller independent labels...

"Amazon's DRM-free MP3s will free customers to play their music on virtually any of their personal devices -- including PCs, Macs, iPods, Zunes, Zens -- and to burn songs to CDs for personal use," the company said in announcing the new store. It stressed that "every song" will be DRM-free, not just the EMI files, which are already for sale without DRM on iTunes.
Limited Catalog

However, Amazon didn't specify which other labels' songs its new store will carry. Most of the major labels, including Warner Music Group, Sony and Universal, are sticking to their guns about DRM and refusing to sell songs stripped of the protection...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/QH9ahaYU...usic.xhtml

[mandy]

Update:

After years of speculation and preparation, Amazon.com launched its digital music store Tuesday, debuting Amazon MP3 and promising a wide selection of music unfettered by DRM restrictions. The e-tail giant launched what it's calling a public beta of the download store with 2 million songs available from 180,000 different artists. Given the DRM-free nature of the music, Amazon's massive customer base and its reputation for creating winning shopping experiences, the e-tailer's download offering may be in the best position yet to give the iTunes Music Store a run for its money...

Amazon's new digital music store, called "Amazon MP3," includes some songs priced at 89 cents -- a dime lower than the price for most copy-protected songs on iTunes, where some songs are now available in digital rights management-free formats for $1.29. The MP3-formatted music will play on all PCs and multiple portable music players, including the iPod...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Jtc3vijG...tore.xhtml