Amazon Launches 'AutoRip', Offering Free Digital Versions of Purchased CDs

klrobinson999 said:

Yes, before it begins: people still buy CDs. They make great gifts and actually sound BETTER than an MP3. I think CD sales may actually still make more $$$ than downloads for the industry. I know for artists I collect, I still buy the CD. Amazon may have saved the compact disc with this innovation!

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I think there are several demographic groups consuming music now.

The younger crowd is all mp3 all the time wherever they can get it as free as possible.

Collectors who want the "hard copy" of the music they like

Old geezers, (like me) who went through buying LP's (have over 600, I don't know what to do with), converting their stuff to CD's and are now only listening to music as background in the car or while working.

Most of the time I now listen to satellite or talk radio and want funny stuff.

The latest hits meh, One Direction (Yes, only direction is go down fast), Justin Bieber (uurrgh)

Being 60 and Stuck in the 60's and loving it. Trying to get rid of all material possessions too.

So, mp3's on my iphone or MBP are perfect. Don't claim to have a good enough ears to hear the differences between formats.

PS: My kids have been discovering my music ever since they were 12 and like it better than what is around now (With a few exceptions)

Go Sirius XM for old-timers.

frayne182 said:

how is it hard to put in a CD and just rip it manually? lol.

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For those people with rMBPs or new iMacs, pretty hard.

DaveN said:

People still by CDs?

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Yes.

At the moment the 'digital' counterpart is more expensive and inferior quality.

The only upshot to downloading is convenience, but I'd rather wait a few days and pay £2 or £3 for a physical 2nd hand CD than £7.99 for an inferior download that I can't sell on.

msandersen said:

WAV, seriously?!? You must have HD space to burn or not rip many CDs. If you really wanna rip losslessly, why not ALAC? When ripping with other software (eg EAC), I've sometimes ripped to FLAC for backup and aac for iTunes/iPod. XLD is great for batch-converting and automatic iTunes import. I find 160kbps AAC plenty for my purposes, at 256 even audiophiles with quality equipment have a hard time making a distinction from CD. If you sat through a blind test, I doubt you could, either.
As it is, my music library is eating up a sizeable chunk of my HD, I cannot imagine how much it would all take up as WAV files, certainly more than the total capacity of my 500Gb internal drive.

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I know ALAC, but I need to copy those rip off to my Android devices without losing the quality, that's why I had to go WAV

BTW my iTunes library is now on a 3TB external HDD, so you are right I have HD space to burn

I can see Apple working out a deal now that you buy a cd anywhere, scan its bar code with your iSight camera, access to iTunes in the Cloud (which is free and different from Match)

Then again, they could just do what they do for digital copies. A code in the CD so that it is unique. Not as instant, but just about. Go to target, buy the cd, launch iTunes on your iphone, scan the code with the camera. Boom.

balamw said:

? DRM? There's no DRM in the Amazon MP3 store.

B

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You have to download/install the amaxon cloud player in order to download multiple tracks of a CD. You used to be able to even download one track at a time but its been a few months since I bought mp3 music from amazon

Huh! Okay, I never paid much attention to Amazon Cloud, but I've bought digital music from Amazon before, so I went and looked. That's all still there, but I was wondering about the CD purchase I've made recently from them in a very long while.... the 35 CD set of classicial pianist Alfred Brendel's Complete Vox, Turnabout, and Vanguard recording, from the 50's-70's. It's not there yet. Guess I'll wait, though I won't be holding my breath! And honestly, I won't be faulting them if they don't do this one.

Later: oh okay, I see it only applies to purchases that have the auto-rip logo.

How many people even bought CDs since then???

i like this

its much like buying vinyl these days. many vinyl records come with a digital copy so there is no need to open the package and damage the vinyl if you are a collector.

this will also make the switch from physical formats to digital much easier for those who still have not addopted the new ways for this type of content.

frayne182 said:

how is it hard to put in a CD and just rip it manually? lol.


I guess this makes it slightly easier.


Whatever... People still buy music?

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It makes it a whole lot easier... I suspect it will be getting a lot harder for all us Mac users in the near future...

LOL

DaveN said:

People still by CDs?

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CD's are better because you have a higher bitrate file after ripping than getting the downloaded version, plus you always have a backup on hand.

frayne182 said:

how is it hard to put in a CD and just rip it manually? lol.

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really hard if you own a modern mac, they have no where to put the CD to rip it.

DaveN said:

People still by CDs?

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Yes, I'm still by my CDs. They're right next to me, on their storage shelves.

I started buying CDs when the format came out (I'm not 13 years old, like DaveN probably is), so I have a substantial collection, all of which I've ripped to my iTunes library. I don't buy a lot of CDs anymore, but there are situations where it still makes sense for me to do so: 1) used from Amazon, where, even with the cost of shipping and handling, they're still less expensive by a buck or two than the digital download; 2) new from remainder bins and sales, where again they're cheaper than digital; and 3) from certain indie and ethnic artists, who sell CDs but don't offer digital downloads. If the cost of a CD or digital album is equal, I usually buy the CD – partly out of habit, but partly because it's a great backup, and partly because I know it's the highest quality audio I'm likely to get. If I don't want an entire album, though, or when the digital album is cheaper, I buy the digital version.

As for what Amazon is doing, it's a nice touch.

HarryKNN21 said:

Turn a sweet CD into awful MP3 formats? Sorry I will keep using WAV formats in iTunes.

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Yup, all mine are ripped in Apple Lossless...takes more space and time, but worth it...good thing for my 3TB drive!

Come on Amazon, offer us free kindle book download when we make a dead tree book purchase. I will personally be thanking you for the rest of my (reading) life.

frayne182 said:

how is it hard to put in a CD and just rip it manually? lol.


I guess this makes it slightly easier.


Whatever... People still buy music?

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Well this addresses the issue with new MacBooks where there is no CD drive anymore. This was a big concern of mine, considering I still buy music in physical form. At least vinyl usually comes with a download, but CDs obviously don't. This move by Amazon certainly helps.

jmcrutch said:

Somewhere the founder of MP3.com, which offered this exact same service but was later hit with a court injunction to cease and desist, is feeling the sting that so many pioneers in tech have felt.

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And the founders of OneBigCD.com who was developing a competing service at the same time.

Now it only took Amazon 12 years later to get licenses for the same thing. Let's you know how progressive the music industry is (and how hard it was to get licenses back then).

Koodauw said:

I really wish they would do this for physical books, get the audio book for free.

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That would be nice – but, as I'm sure you're aware, there are additional costs involved in producing an audio book ($5,000 to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the length of the book and the hourly rate of the actor reading it, according to Wikipedia), so it's unlikely to happen.

However, including an e-book with a physical book seems reasonable. In my dream world, I'd go into a used-book store, find a used paperback for $3, and find the e-book version on a CD in a sleeve in the back.

I think this is excellent. The instant gratification of download, the security of cloud backups, plus a CD to do better quality rips in the future or the ultimate back up of Amazon go bust or have the licences amended. Only problem going up into the loft to put the CDs away.

Nightarchaon said:

really hard if you own a modern mac, they have no where to put the CD to rip it.

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Well, you still have this option, and a bazillion third-party (read: cheaper) options. I recently went this route when I moved from my 2010 iMac to an Air full-time.

And count me in on the list of ppl who still buy CDs. I don't buy them all the time but if a CD is cheaper than the digital version it's worth it to pick it up & have the freedom to rip in any format/bitrate and have a hard-copy to archive.

about damn time.

Got almost 900 songs in my could player now. Cool I guess. I can download all of them at once.

This is pretty cool and it's even cooler that any CDs I've bought as gifts are now there.

DaveN said:

People still by CDs?

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lol some do... mostly old folks... but this is a great idea

sgibson said:

How long until one of the labels sues Amazon because one of the tracks they gave to a customer is one of a CD that was bought as a gift and the purchaser no longer owns?

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Doesn't matter who has the physical CD now. It was paid for so, even if 'gave it away' why shouldn't I have the digital downloads also?