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Monday, October 1, 2007
Well, looks like Universal had a trick card up its sleeve when it “left” iTunes for Amazon. (It really didn’t leave, but rather stated it would be selective in material available on iTunes for the future.) Many thought it was going to an “Unboxed” formula with music downloads on Amazon but I must say, Amazon’s MP3 Download service is mighty fine. Fine indeed. No DRM and with a bit rate of 256 kbps, this looks like it has a good start out of the, um, box. Add the fact that you can use Amazon’s MP3 Downloader, both for the Mac and Windows, that automatically adds all purchases to your iTunes library, and now you have a bona fide contender for an iTunes Store competitor. Yeah!
Most songs come in at 89 cents and albums at $8.99 (USD). This is a dime and dollar difference from iTunes. I’ve found other albums that are at the five dollar mark making Amazon’s service a first stop for me before making any music purchases. What I love about this service is the ability to pay less than $9.99 per album than if I went to iTunes. I love the irony in Steve Jobs “one price” model and yet iTunes Store is littered like the Las Vegas Strip with high priced trash all over it. I still can remember the first time I tripped over an $18 album. And yes, I ended up purchasing it on CD from Amazon for $11.99 shipped. Now, in some cases, I can get it cheaper…downloaded!
I must say that I do love the iTunes Store. It’s a one stop place for most of my (DRM-free) music shopping. But with Amazon’s downloader and cheaper prices, I’m going to go here every time first. If the song or album is not available or is more expensive than iTunes (which I doubt will ever happen,) then I’ll hit iTunes. Thankfully, I once again have a choice and I intend to fully use it. Just like the old days of going to Tower Records, Rainbow Records, or the Record Factory, to find the best deal on Billy Squire’s Don’t Say No, I can now shop around “town”.
This of course gives Steve Jobs a problem that he’ll have to re-evaluate his pressure hold on the music industry. While it’s fairly common knowledge that Apple really makes very little on music purchase from iTunes, variable pricing may be something Apple will be forced into accepting with the advent of the Amazon store.