Amazon to Sell Unprotected MP3s?

MacRumors · 07:49 PM

Times Online reports that Amazon has approached all the major music studios about selling unprotected MP3s online.

According to the article, Amazon is aiming to launch this new music store next month in order to challenge Apple's own iTunes store. Apple and EMI made headlines earlier this month by announcing that they would be selling EMI's music catalog on iTunes without any form of digital rights management (DRM).

Not all other studios appear to have adopted this model and Times Online expects only "EMI and independent labels" to join Amazon's initial launch.

The use of DRM in digital sales has been due to industry concerns about unrestricted piracy of music files. The use of DRM, however, also has limited interoperability between music stores and music players. At present, Apple's iTunes protected songs can be played only on Apple's iPod or Apple TV. Meanwhile, protected content from other online music stores (Napster, for example) cannot be played on the Apple iPod. The launch of unprotected music sales would eliminate these artificial limitations.

PlaceofDis · Apr 23, 2007, 04:27 PM

interesting development. competition is good though.

i wonder what the quality of the tracks would be. anything under 192kbps MP3 and i'm not buying at all.

Peace · Apr 23, 2007, 04:29 PM

iTunes will be doing 256K MP3 from EMI so I'd expect Amazon to match this.

balamw · Apr 23, 2007, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

iTunes will be doing 256K MP3 from EMI so I'd expect Amazon to match this.

Thought it was 256 kbps AAC?

B

pdpardue · Apr 23, 2007, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by balamw

Thought it was 256 kbps AAC?

B

mp3 aac, it's all the same

BornAgainMac · Apr 23, 2007, 04:39 PM

I wish AAC was called MP4 for marketing reasons. Anyways I hope this puts some pressure on the other record companies. I hope this model makes a ton of cash and nobody steals this music in a big way.

ChrisA · Apr 23, 2007, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdpardue

mp3 aac, it's all the same

Not really. 256K AAC is more like 320K MP3 in terms of quality.

I like the way "allmp3.com" works. After you select the track you want you can have any bit rate you want. You pay then by the bit so 256K cost double what 128K costs. They should all do that. Then you can have lossless if you want to pay for the bits.

gnasher729 · Apr 24, 2007, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdpardue

mp3 aac, it's all the same

On Slashdot you would get modded down "-1, clueless".

uv23 · Apr 23, 2007, 04:28 PM

Competition is good. I'll buy from anyone who can give me at least 192 kbps and no DRM. For underground electronic music, I'd also recommend Bleep. Fantastic quality, no BS.

Cult Follower · Apr 23, 2007, 08:55 PM

You don't see improvements without competition and they can work on the music labels together.

Apr 23, 2007, 04:25 PM	#1
MacRumors macrumors bot Join Date: Apr 2001	Amazon to Sell Unprotected MP3s? Times Online reports that Amazon has approached all the major music studios about selling unprotected MP3s online. According to the article, Amazon is aiming to launch this new music store next month in order to challenge Apple's own iTunes store. Apple and EMI made headlines earlier this month by announcing that they would be selling EMI's music catalog on iTunes without any form of digital rights management (DRM). Not all other studios appear to have adopted this model and Times Online expects only "EMI and independent labels" to join Amazon's initial launch. The use of DRM in digital sales has been due to industry concerns about unrestricted piracy of music files. The use of DRM, however, also has limited interoperability between music stores and music players. At present, Apple's iTunes protected songs can be played only on Apple's iPod or Apple TV. Meanwhile, protected content from other online music stores (Napster, for example) cannot be played on the Apple iPod. The launch of unprotected music sales would eliminate these artificial limitations. Last edited by Doctor Q : Apr 23, 2007 at 07:49 PM. Reason: Typo re-fix

Apr 23, 2007, 04:28 PM	#9
uv23 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Calgary, AB	Competition is good. I'll buy from anyone who can give me at least 192 kbps and no DRM. For underground electronic music, I'd also recommend Bleep. Fantastic quality, no BS. __________________ I believe the next Powerbook revision will include a ramped up G3 with AltiVec, but I'm not betting any testicles on it. --greenstork

Apr 23, 2007, 08:55 PM	#10
Cult Follower macrumors 6502a Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: North Dakota	You don't see improvements without competition and they can work on the music labels together. __________________ If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right. - Steve Jobs

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Apr 23, 2007, 04:27 PM	#2
PlaceofDis macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Chicago.	interesting development. competition is good though. i wonder what the quality of the tracks would be. anything under 192kbps MP3 and i'm not buying at all.

Apr 23, 2007, 04:29 PM	#3
Peace macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: On top of the Storm Peaks waiting for the Time-Lost Proto Drake	iTunes will be doing 256K MP3 from EMI so I'd expect Amazon to match this.

Apr 23, 2007, 04:39 PM	#6
BornAgainMac macrumors 68030 Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Florida Resident	I wish AAC was called MP4 for marketing reasons. Anyways I hope this puts some pressure on the other record companies. I hope this model makes a ton of cash and nobody steals this music in a big way.