Use Amazon's cloud player, allows you to download or stream all your Amazon library. Your call
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Amazon Optimizes MP3 Store for Mobile Safari to Attract iOS Device Users
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Use Amazon's cloud player, allows you to download or stream all your Amazon library. Your call
I love how I can shop around for digital music these days and am not locked into buying music from whoever I bought my "mp3 player" from. Great days for digital music these are.
Now, if only the movie industry would take notice and follow. I think they need to realize that pirates are going to be pirates, so you might as well make the best possible experience for the paying customers.
Now, if only the movie industry would take notice and follow. I think they need to realize that pirates are going to be pirates, so you might as well make the best possible experience for the paying customers.
Amazon MP3 is better
Make no mistake about it, while iTunes still has a relatively larger library than Amazon (keyword: "relatively"), Amazon easily outpaces iTunes in terms of song/album deals. I never really understood why people buy iTunes songs/albums while the majority of time, those same songs/albums are much cheaper on Amazon. I can't begin to tell you how many times I was about to buy a $9.99 album on iTunes but checked on Amazon and the exact same album at the exact same bit rate was only $4.99. I don't know how Amazon does it nor do I care but Amazon is easily the better option of the two and now with the new rip feature and better integration into the iOS system, I'm in all the way with Amazon.
Make no mistake about it, while iTunes still has a relatively larger library than Amazon (keyword: "relatively"), Amazon easily outpaces iTunes in terms of song/album deals. I never really understood why people buy iTunes songs/albums while the majority of time, those same songs/albums are much cheaper on Amazon. I can't begin to tell you how many times I was about to buy a $9.99 album on iTunes but checked on Amazon and the exact same album at the exact same bit rate was only $4.99. I don't know how Amazon does it nor do I care but Amazon is easily the better option of the two and now with the new rip feature and better integration into the iOS system, I'm in all the way with Amazon.
I get that - hence my original post. If Apple just allowed iOS to save things (besides Photos), it would solve having multiple music apps.
I use Dropbox a lot to exchange demo songs with my band. However, I need to remember to go into Dropbox to play those songs. Basically, Apple forces users to remember where each files (songs) are saved; did I have that song in Dropbox or in the Music app on my iPhone? It doesn't seem intuitive.
Plus, you can't sure Siri to access songs stored on Amazon's Cloud player. Siri is awesome when I'm driving and want to hear a song but doesn't work with third-party apps that way.
I had the same dilemma until iTunes Match was introduced. iTM may not be the solution for everyone, but it's awesome to be able to listen to any and everything in my collection on the go without having to carefully consider what to put on my phone ahead of time. Plus I can log into iTunes on any computer and stream my own music! I love it (usually).
Annnnyway, it's about time Amazon made its MP3 store more accessible. Before I had to wait to get home to buy, so this is much better.
New albums at $2.99? Win. The Apple ecosystem is a better experiance, but it's hard to ignore the fire sales Amazon has been having when you're saving 8, 9, 10 bucks per album.
I am there with you. Over the holidays Amazon had the $2.99 per hot album deal. And throughout the years you get insane deals. Just this past year I got Frank Sinatra's greatest hits for 99 cents, the whole 18 track album. Now I am not a huge fan of Old Blue Eyes but for 99 cents I bought it, and discovered actually that I know most if not all of his songs.
Same with the Bee Gees, 99 cents one day deal.
Whenever I buy a CD (rarely, only for specific artists), I use Amazon too. So the most recent AutoRip was a great surprise.
Dont' underestimate Amazon! They are here to stay
It does work well, but it's still a bit of a hassle compared to browsing and buying directly from iTunes. The biggest problem I have with Amazon though is their use of MP3 instead of AAC which is noticeably inferior.
agreed, they have to expand... I'm not sure if it's applicable anymore, but on Amazon forums, there are discussions about US customers travelling (outside of US) and, of course, unable to access their music/video/movies due to international copyrights and distribution rights.
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well that is the problem with Apple 100% BS block on requiring everyone to go through them and give apple a 30% cut for being a payment processor. They have to do stupid workarounds.
Go bitch at Apple for this one.
As many have noted here, the AAC files available in iTunes are far superior to Amazon's MP3 file format. Although practically speaking most will not notice any difference.
Since many people routinely blast their poor ears with extremely loud music while mindlessly strolling down the street, many people have poor hearing. So MP3 is just as good to those folks.
Ha! At high bit rates it sounds the same to me, but I remember trying to convince people 10 years ago that AAC at 128 Kbps was way cleaner than MP3 at the same bit rate. Now that storage is so cheap, I rip everything at double that now, but to be honest I have a hard time distinguishing between 128 and 256 Kbps when it's encoded in AAC.
Yeah Apple acts like their is no file system in iOS but in reality there is one and it is crap. Life would be a lot easier for users and developers alike if we where allowed to dump/save files in other basic location like media.
Simple. Amazon takes it in the shorts every time they sell you something at such a bargain price. Enjoy it while it lasts; eventually investors will demand that Amazon have a sustainable profit margin. I'm sure my much-loved Prime service's days are numbered.
Based on what selection of devices? Actually look into it and you'll find out you're utterly wrong.
It's been 10 years of AAC. Its everywhere.
They've certainly done well enough for several years with their current model. And I'm sure your prime days aren't numbered. Amazon loves Prime memberships - it's another way to lock you into their ecosystem. In fact - so much so - they keep expanding benefits/content to prime members.
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I stand corrected. After doing some searching it does seem that AAC is pretty ubiquitous. More so than I originally thought.
ETA: But I do find it amusing that people talk about the audio quality between AAC and MP3 as if there's a huge difference and yet have no problem sacrificing quality when it comes to video. I guess I'm more of a visual person as I would sacrifice some audio quality well before I would sacrifice video quality.
I thought at first that you were exaggerating but I checked again and sure enough there was a 250GB model before the 160GB model that's been available for the last 6 years. When was the 250GB model launched? It looks like it's been completely revisioned out of history from Apple's website.
I am one who still buys CD because I want lossless. I use iTunes as my player but rarely buy downloads. I have about 70,000 songs so far in my iTunes library, 90% from my own CD collection. I just tried amazon's new autorip feature using their player on my iPad. SInce I've bought so many CDs from them (since 1998), I have over 7500 songs at disposal for me to play in the cloud or download. Even CDs I bought others as gifts. Now they are not lossless if I download to my library (only downloading those that I gave to others and I don't have or some albums from CDs I no longer have) but I'll use this only when Im on the road with my iPad. It is a good idea to have that much music with me. And music I originally purchased anyway.
I don't really care. I download music from Amazon (if it is cheaper than the same music on iTunes), it downloads, goes into iTunes automatically, goes into iTunes Match automatically, and then I download again from iTunes Match on my Mac if I want to. It's available automatically on the iPad as well through iTunes Match (as 256 KBit AAC).
My wife's £30 Nokia phone plays AAC no problem. I think loading it with music was as simple as taking a memory card, plugging it into the Mac, dragging folders with music over, and putting the card in the phone.
Usually it is about 240 KBit VBR. Which to my ears using Grado headphones is not noticeably inferior. It's not even noticeably different. And iTunes Match fixes this anyway.
That's nothing compared to the best iTunes deals I ever got: 100 songs by some 50's musician for £2.99. Turned out that six of the songs were actually defective, so I got six song credits, worth more than I paid!
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I think a lot of people still by from iTunes because of convenience (it's an app right on the device)
Also - No doubt iTunes Gift Cards are easy purchases for people with iDevices.
Not that Amazon Gift Cards aren't great (and I know Google Play has gift cards now too)
But -
When/if I get Amazon gift cards - I don't use them for consumables. I use them for merchandise
Also - No doubt iTunes Gift Cards are easy purchases for people with iDevices.
Not that Amazon Gift Cards aren't great (and I know Google Play has gift cards now too)
But -
When/if I get Amazon gift cards - I don't use them for consumables. I use them for merchandise
Movies will never become DRM free. Here is why:
Songs are cheap to buy. It's sometimes easier to buy a song then download it for free. Also helps to avoid potential viruses.
However, movies costs anywhere from $10-$20. Most people would 'share' or find a 'free' copy instead of buying. Or you can get a group of friends who each buy one movie, then share their movie with everyone else. If you have 4 friends, you now have 5 HD movies that you each only paid $20 for.
This is why the movie industry is reluctant.
I don't mind buying from iTunes because I'm supporting a company that I like, the ease of use of re-downloading if needed, and the ecosystem it has. I do worry what would happen if iTunes would shut down considering I spent well over $600 in movies and tv shows. Would I ever be able to watch them again? At that point, I think Apple would be required to release some type of conversion software to another company like Amazon or allow burning to DVD once.
Most 'native' apps use webviews (which load up html) for a lot of content.
The Appstore and iTunes store are prime examples - everything except the top and bottom bars is a web view.
If there is a slowdown when loading them up in Safari, that'll be down to Safari - not the webapp.
Love Amazon MP3. Cheaper prices and best of all they are in MP3 format and not that M4a crap.
Once downloaded, I can do whatever the heck I want with the file. Again, love amazon MP3.
Once downloaded, I can do whatever the heck I want with the file. Again, love amazon MP3.
for serious music listening I use Amazon for buying vinyl, but for my iPhone its spotify and for my old skool 2004 iPod its iTunes, just because of convenience.
What would be awesome is if they would "optimize" their Amazon Prime/Instant Video iOS app to support video over AirPlay.
Or if they'd fix the wish list functionality they broke in the latest version of their Amazon store iOS app.
Or if Cloud Player for iOS (or the website) had even a halfarsed decent UX design.
But, hey, why not work on their crappy MP3 mobile website instead? /sarcasm
Or if they'd fix the wish list functionality they broke in the latest version of their Amazon store iOS app.
Or if Cloud Player for iOS (or the website) had even a halfarsed decent UX design.
But, hey, why not work on their crappy MP3 mobile website instead? /sarcasm