Amazon to Open DRM-Free MP3 Music Download Store 197
mtnlion1 writes "Amazon.com announced it will launch a digital music store later this year offering millions of songs in the DRM-free MP3 format from more than 12,000 record labels. EMI Music's digital catalog is the latest addition to the store. Every song and album in the Amazon.com digital music store will be available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software. Amazon's DRM-free MP3s will free customers to play their music on virtually any of their personal devices and burn songs to CDs for personal use."
Goodbye ITunes (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Goodbye ITunes Store (Score:5, Insightful)
And it could be even bigger: If the music industry can start treating their customers like clients, instead of vermin, then perhaps there's hope for the airlines (motto: we fucking HATE our customers).
A boy can dream.
Premium? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmm, what does the word "premium" mean in there? More expensive? Just some subset of their catalog?
Re:Premium? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Premium? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's one of those words like "heritage" that has been soiled by its overuse in certain contexts.
Re:Premium? (Score:5, Funny)
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Consumers - mindless drones, who have a singular purpose (to consume)
Customers - that's a little better.
"our consumers" - the people (yes, people) who are put here to consume our products (and this time they will pay a premium to do so!)
I am left to wonder.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Will it only be music from the EMI catalog?
They have the section of their site where individuals can sell things as "used" , will they expand this so that unsigned bands can sell their MP3's without a recording label behind them?
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Re:I am left to wonder.... (Score:4, Interesting)
This would be a huge boon for local unsigned and independent bands as they could have people just look them up on amazon. A band could have it's own website, which links to amazon to sell the MP3's , saving them bandwidth costs, and the need to manage/deal with e-commerce on a promotional website, while also allowing them to make money from the sale of their music.
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As much as the "great music" may be from smaller artists and labels, if the profits don't roll for Amazon on a venture they can and will pull the plug. Having the widest possible selection would be optimal for highest volume. Even if it means also having crappy choices.
But of course, to each their own on tastes and preference.
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Oh, I'm sure the recording industry is ecstatic to have another major player in the licensed-music-download arena. Until now, Apple has in some ways had the recording industry by the cojones -- as the major retailer of song downloads, Jobs has been able to tell the industry to STFU re: variable pricing. With Amazon in the mix, the labels have a *huge* bargaining chip, since they can tell Jobs to take a
Crap. Correction (Score:2)
Seriously, MP3 needs to stop. Also, iTunes (Score:5, Insightful)
As for people saying things like "Goodbye iTunes"... why do you think this is any different than what iTunes is doing? iTunes is adding the EMI catalog plus a ton of independant labels (and of course, the other big ones as long as they sign on. Why do you think the Amazon store is any different? I think you can pretty much rest assured that near-everything Amazon gets will be on iTunes... and I have a hard time imagining that anything Amazon releases could beat the integration and ease of use of iTunes and iTunes Music Store... and from there, the iPod.
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People don't get rid of MP3s because they're still the lowest common denominator of music file formats. Everything plays them, unlike AAC or Vorbis or WMA or whatever else.
It would be nice to have the option to choose a format that suited the user, though. Presumably the only reason they've not done that is to avoid confusion (Apple can offer AAC as their "only choice" since they only support iTunes and iPods).
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Saying that storage requirements can be solved by simply buying a bigger hard drive is like saying you can fix your supply chain problems by throwing up more shelves.
And if you need me to explain the analogy you reek of FAIL.
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Really, why wouldn't you want to use a high quality, patent free codec? MP3 and AAC are patent infested, though AAC is slightly better (with mp3 you have to pay to sell mp3s).
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Re:Seriously, MP3 needs to stop. Also, iTunes (Score:4, Informative)
As with the MP3 format [3] , no licenses or payments are required to be able to stream or distribute content in AAC format. [4] This reason alone makes AAC a much more attractive format for distributing content, particularly streaming content (such as Internet radio).
However, a patent license is required for all manufacturers or developers of AAC codecs. [5] It is for this reason FOSS implementations such as FAAC and FAAD are distributed in source form only, in order to avoid patent infringement.
AAC requires a patent license, and thus uses proprietary technology. But contrary to popular belief, it is not the property of a single company, having been developed in a standards-making organization.
Re:Seriously, MP3 needs to stop. Also, iTunes (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Seriously, MP3 needs to stop. Also, iTunes (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Seriously, MP3 needs to stop. Also, iTunes (Score:5, Informative)
Because it's currently very expensive (or impossible?) to get chip decoders for OGG Vorbis, because of lack of demand.
That may have been true a few years ago, but most of the current Portable Media Players are more than capable of handling the decoding of OGG files and would be pretty trivial to add support to their players. I really think their is a more of a "politcal" reason for not supporting OGG files anymore (not sure what it is, but for some reason companies don't want OGG files catching on).
BTW: I just purchased a Sandisk Sansa e260 series player to be used with my entire collection of OGG Vorbis files - the trick is to simply install Rockbox [rockbox.org] on it to use instead of the crap firmware it comes with.
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So, are you saying there is some sort of conspiracy between music player makers and the fraunhofer institute to keep ogg support off players? I don't buy that for a second. For me there can be no doubt that ogg is more expensive to support, or all players would support it.
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So, are you saying there is some sort of conspiracy between music player makers and the fraunhofer institute to keep ogg support off players? For me there can be no doubt that ogg is more expensive to support, or all players would support it.
Then what other reason do you give why ipods, sansas, gigabeats, etc. don't support OGG files out of the box (while rockbox happily runs on these devices) ? It would be very minimal (price wise and man-power wise) for these companies to support OGG files as their
Why not mp3PRO? (Score:2)
Theoretically, a store could use the mp3PRO [wikipedia.org] format to get the best of all worlds, couldn't they? A 128 bps mp3PRO file would play on every MP3-compatible device with quality comparable to MP3. And any device (like the PC, or a media center of some kind) which is mp3PRO-aware would automatically play them with superior sound quality.
From the end-user's point of view, I think this would be an awesome idea. But then again, the format doesn't have a very good track record of adoption so far, and there may be
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The other good thing about the patents on MP3 expiring is of
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In a casual conversation,
Why it's different... (Score:2)
They can cross promote, buy the CD, get the MP3's for a discount and have them while the CD ships... Buy a movie, get the MP3's of the soundtrack bundled in...
Searching for information on learning classical spanish guitar? Here are a dozen books, a couple CD's, and oh yeah, some MP3 examples of greats in the field...
On another level, this is the difference between WarMart expanding it's electronics to also sell HDTV, and Best Buy expanding it's selection to do
Re:Seriously, MP3 needs to stop. Also, iTunes (Score:5, Insightful)
Because many of us, myself included, will not, ever, intall iTunes or use the iTMS.
Amazon, OTOH, as evil as we may all consider Bezos' 1-click patent, has the right idea. When you buy digital media from them (or if you buy physical items with a digital manual), it just goes into your account's Media Library. Totally platform (as well as specific-machine) agnostic; If you can run a web browser on any machine anywhere in the world, you can log into your Amazon account and download what you have in your account (and as many times as you want).
I have a hard time imagining that anything Amazon releases could beat the integration and ease of use of iTunes and iTunes Music Store... and from there, the iPod.
Exactly - And I don't want any of the three of those, much less all three.
Not to mention the obvious Slashdot cry of protest, "iTunes on Linux?"
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(the gapfree playback is a lot better than others)
it's that POS quicktime that you need to install.
Amarok and Winamp can both play AAC/M4A with just the codec.
I'm guessing it's DRM related.
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Re:Seriously, MP3 needs to stop. Also, iTunes (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly - And I don't want any of the three of those, much less all three.
Especially ease of use. I hate that.
-Ted
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As for quality, MP3 is sufficient for most of the population (even if you and I can hear the flaws), just as mid-priced systems with low-grade speaker sound fine to the millions who buy
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When I rip today, I still rip to high-bitrate MP3. Yes, I know I would get more "bang for my buck" using a more modern format like wma, aac, or ogg. But, when I rip to MP3, I *know* it will be supported on everything from my Tivo, to my Xbox360, to whatever MP3 player I choose
Seriously, there is an excuse (Score:4, Insightful)
Excuse #1: Cannot play MP4's on an MP3 player
Explaining to the average music consumer that they need to upgrade their MP3 player to an MP4 player is like explaining to a person with cataracts that they need to upgrade from regular TV to HD. Sure, it's the future, but don't expect them to run to the store any time soon. Without a groundswell of new consumers flocking to MP4, retailers are hard pressed to justify moving to MP4. Again, think HD.
Perhaps someone should find a legislator to sponsor a bill to require music retailers to move to MP4 by 2010 so we can be forced to pay for high-definition music along with our high-definition video.
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here's a quick list [google.com]
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"One Moment Please.
Connecting to the iTunes Store.
Loading
We are unable to find iTunes on your computer. "
You apparantly cannot buy MP3 (or anything else) without the iTunes application installed. I cannot do that on my workplace machine (well I could, but I won't). I cannot do that on my home machines because they're linux. Well, if I could, I would not. But if I can access a huge library of MP3 for a reasonable price and use just my web browser...well pretty much a given
Quality (Score:2, Insightful)
lossless (eg FLAC) is not so unreasonable with broadband these days
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Price not set. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Meh, call me when it happens (Score:2)
Apple's iTunes has several things going for it. For starters, if you are showing up you've already got the iPod, the iTunes, etc. The iTunes store has a massive catalogue of music, so much so that I have yet to find something I wan
Downside of iTunes (Score:2)
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And I use quicktime on both the Mac and PC.
(Why the hell would you use a quicktime clone?)
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Well if you can name a comperable product I'm more than happy to consider it. In the meantime you can take the 10% you are saving (and spending by replacing 3 times as often) and I'll sit here, smug as can be with my happy Macbook, with apeloads of iTunes tracks on it, and a Nano leashed to my side happily living in utter bliss of the whole mess working together.
Which is completely, but not entirely, unlike my experience with Windows, Linux, etc.
And I HAVE experience with Windows, Linux, etc.
I'
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The easiest solution to all of this... (Score:3)
Let customers then encode as they see fit. I certainly don't want to pay for stuff that is lower quality, and cannot be used as a master to re-encode in different formats, or the same format with VBR, etc.
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Available Internationally? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd like to be able to buy DRM-free, major tunes online aside from Emusic.com, where, except for a few selected tracks, everything is generally available for purchase anywhere in the world. iTunes, Napster, etc, DRM-infested as they are, would have made a killing by not limiting purchases to the US alone. Until they do open up, and I hope Amazon does, my purchases (and I know I'm not alone) would be limited to Emusic.com and several indie sites.
Corollary: why MP3 and not lossless compression? (Score:3, Informative)
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I have a WM5 phone with a 2GB memory card it shuffles its way through 10GB of 192kbps quality MP3's. If I could I would own a 10GB memory card, because I own low quality headphones i downgrade the MP3's to 128Kbps. For most people that i
Re:Corollary: why MP3 and not lossless compression (Score:4, Insightful)
I would prefer FLAC (or even APE, since I just transcode to FLAC), but to be popular you have to be simple. MP3 is simple. You also need to appear to be "compact", so they'll proabably send them out at 128 or - if we're luckly 192kb. That may sound silly, but imagine the iTMS commercial that touts "If you download from iTMS, your player will hold twice as many songs as the leading competitor." Stupid but true.
Now, if they were to offer a FLAC option, that would be awesome - but I'm not holding my breath. Somebody needs to swipe the AllOfMP3 engine, if you want to know my opinion. Now that the DRM beast is retreating, you may as well let people download whatever bit rate they want.
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I couldn't find a single way to batch these files to Mp3, I saw
As you said Mp3s are simple, small and easier to use. OGG, FLAC, and APE have annoyed me in the p
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Great offensive (Score:2, Interesting)
Competition and Pricing (Score:2, Interesting)
What will the store look like? (Score:2)
I wonder what their store will "look" like. Will it exist entirely within the web browser? Will they help organize your .mp3 library on your computer? Are they going to try to create their own music "ecosystem" to compete with iTunes/iTMS? Amazon could do anything here.
Personally, I think making the store web-based would be a plus. But I think if they don't help manage your library, that's a minus. This being Amazon, I'm going to guess it will be web-based: click to download, and they'll forgo any attempt
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Re:What's the trick? (Score:4, Funny)
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I'll make a blind guess. I bet they'll be 256 Kbps .mp3s for $1.29 each. This is only a guess, based on EMI's existing DRM-free offerings at iTunes [slashdot.org], the fact that EMI calls them "premium DRM-free downloads" in the press release, and the fact that nobody is reporting any more details. I think if there were any more details that made Amazon's offering better than iTunes, they'd be reported. However, it would be really interesting if I were wrong, and the price was lower than that.
I'd also guess that EMI wil
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Re: Allofmp3 does NOT give you choice of quality (Score:3, Informative)
I know, hard to believe that allofmp3 can't be trusted, right?
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If you purchase based on the available information, you can usually but the best possible quality, without spending more.
-nB
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It's probably True (Score:2, Informative)
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Re:What's the trick? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Buying singles vs. buying used (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:What's the trick? (Score:4, Informative)
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Of course, the mainstream music industry isnt interested in people listening to more and more varied music; their revenue stream would get horribly d
Re:What's the trick? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What's the trick? (Score:5, Insightful)
What might make this special, though, is if charge less than 99 cents or less. That iTunes is charging 30 cents more for DRM-free is a crock. "Look, it is DRM-free, surely that is worth 30 cents more?!" Um, no, it isn't.
I am not the tarket market here, though. I only buy used CDs and have never purchased an MP3. The pricing of new CDs is still too high for my tastes and 99 cents for one song is far too expensive.
Maybe if my money was going to a charitable cause, I might pay 99 cents. I am curious, though, with MP3 over the net distro being the future, what is holding more artists back from being indie and reaping more profit on their own hard work?
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Price fixiing by the music cartel. Don't expect any song to have a lower price than the iTunes protected market. Protection of the iTunes market is in the contract you will never see. You will see the results however. No DRM free track under $1.29.
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Re:This will kill iTunes store (Score:4, Interesting)
Quality notwithstanding, people are trying to buy music they like, not music they can play anywhere or in whatever format they want, or even the best possible quantity. Naturally those things are important, but if someone wants a single song off an album, they'll buy the DRM version at iTunes if they can't get it anywhere else. They are not going to buy some track they don't know or care about just because it's available at high quality with no drm in their favorite format. Content is of the first importance.
I have to admit, I was pretty taken up with ITMS until a good while back, but then I found eMusic (Thanks to a
Another thing: I've actually replaced a pretty good deal of the music I already paid for at ITMS. Some single songs I purchased there were from albums I initially didn't want to purchase whole, but when you cruise the used disc section at Newbury Comics or (in a pinch, since they're more expensive) Strawberries, you find some surprising stuff.
One day, maybe I'll use my ITMS credit for something, but over the last year, I've spent more on hard copies and on eMusic than I've spent on ITMS, and my ITMS spending still adds up to a LOT more than I spent in the 10 years prior to getting an iPod.
Bottom line though, while I'm still more interested in buying music I like than buying formats, I have changed my method of buying that music. That's what's eventually going to put a damper on the ITMS juggernaut. It is certainly not going to happen because a single (or even a few) of the big companies made special deals that allow customers to spend an arm and a leg to get a moderate quality, DRM free copy of the music they steal from the artists. Besides, as mentioned by a previous poster, Jobs is trying to get rid of DRM, he's just dragging his feet about it and seems to be willing to increase the price, rather than dropping it.
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I agree completely. This is why it is a very rare occurrence for me to shell out money for a new disc. I much prefer spending an hour at Newbury Comics once every month or so, assuming I have a list of discs I'd be interested in. I can spend $20 and get 3 discs - sometimes more for less.
Granted, I've bought used and had the media come out damaged, but not at Newbury Comics, and they're guaranteed anyway. Only one time have I chosen new
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One Word (Score:2)