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Amazon Taking DRM-Free MP3s International in 2008

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Apr 12, 2001
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Amazon announced today that they would be rolling out their Amazon MP3 store internationally in 2008.
"We have received thousands of e-mails from Amazon customers around the world asking us when we will make Amazon MP3 available outside of the U.S. They can't wait to choose from the biggest selection of high-quality, low-priced DRM-free MP3 music downloads which play on virtually any music device they own today or will own in the future," said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President of Digital Music. "We are excited to tell those customers today that Amazon MP3 is going international this year."
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Amazon's MP3 store is presently the largest Digital Rights Management (DRM) Free selection of downloadable songs available for sale online. As of January, Amazon had managed to sign on all the major record labels to their service and will be launching a billion song giveaway during the Superbowl.

MP3s downloaded from the Amazon store are compatible with Apple's iTunes software as well as their iPods and iPhones. Amazon offers a list of bestsellers including a number of freely downloadable MP3 tracks.

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that's good thing for the people overseas's
 
The Amazon store is pretty good. The interface is obviously not nearly as good as iTunes but their little Downloader program that automatically puts the songs into iTunes works well.

I now do a little comparison shopping between the two stores. I prefer buying from iTunes but if the price is equal and the iTunes version has DRM while the Amazon doesn't, then Amazon gets the sale. Often though the Amazon price is below iTunes and often the iTunes option is not iTunes Plus, so it still has DRM and is only encoded at 128kpbs. In this case, Amazon is the obvious choice.

So Apple, it's about time to make the whole store DRM-free. I know that's not completely up to them. But in making the choice, DRM-free wins every time.
 
The only thing better about iTunes Store right now is the interface and usability. Apple makes it so darn easy to spend money. Good for consumers, though. Competition means better products/lower prices.
 
The AmazonMP3 store is many steps ahead of the iTunes store. MP3 is a more compatible and portable format than AAC, and Amazon encodes their MP3s using LAME in the -V0 setting, which is the "industry" standard. The term "industry" is being used loosely. Music pirates, who on a by-volume basis are essentially the industry, have long figured out that LAME -V0 is is the best format for storing and transfering music. Furthermore, listening tests have shown that LAME -V0 is indistinguishable from source material (which is also true for 256 kbps AAC but not 128 kbps AAC). Lastly, their entire catalog is offered without DRM, making music purchased from the Amazon store as "future-proof" as possible, i.e. portable, CD-transparent audio in the industry-standard format. On top of all that, they are often priced lower than iTunes.

Hands down, Amazon's offering provides the best possible consumer value. While Apple's leadership with the music labels created the environment in which a consumer-minded service like AmazonMP3 could be conceived, Apple's market dominance can only help them for so long against the retail juggernaut that is Amazon.
 
Animaniac said:
In my mind the AmazonMP3 store is many steps ahead of the iTunes store. MP3 is a more compatible and portable format than AAC. In addition, Amazon encodes their MP3s using LAME in the -V0 setting, which is the "industry" standard.
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I haven't found any evidence of this in any of the mp3 files I have purchased from Amazon. As much as I'd like it to be true I haven't been able to determine what their files have been encoded with. Whatever they're using doesn't sound good to my ears.

I will agree that Lame is a top notch encoder. I can't tell the difference between a lame or itunes aac song at 256 kbps.
 
Steel Wheels said:
Good for competition. But, to my ears, Amazon mp3's just don't sound as good as an iTunes AAC file.
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Which one? iTunes AAC+ which is encoded at 256kbps or Protected AAC which is encoded at 128kbps? Despite AAC being a newer and better codec than MP3, the comparatively low bitrate of most iTunes songs to Amazon's MP3s makes iTunes a worse choice for sound quality.

However, all of this all depends on the source file being used to encode the audio. I assume that both Amazon and Apple are getting the same source files.
 
Steel Wheels said:
I haven't found any evidence of this in any of the mp3 files I have purchased from Amazon. As much as I'd like it to be true I haven't been able to determine what their files have been encoded with. Whatever they're using doesn't sound good to my ears.

I will agree that Lame is a top notch encoder. I can't tell the difference between a lame or itunes aac song at 256 kbps.
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That's odd. Free tools such as Dnuos (used to be Oidua) and EncSpot identify Amazon MP3s as LAME 3.97 -V0.
 
I've already spotted Pepsi packs in the supermarket that have codes inside to be redeemed for Amazon.com music when pepsistuff.com goes live on February 1.
 
solipsism said:
Which one? iTunes AAC+ which is encoded at 256kbps or Protected AAC which is encoded at 128kbps? Despite AAC being a newer and better codec than MP3, the comparatively low bitrate of most iTunes songs to Amazon's MP3s makes iTunes a worse choice for sound quality.
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I should have made that more clear. I meant amazon mp3's compared to itunes plus songs.

I agree. Amazon mp3's make a better choice than a protected song from itunes. Itunes songs encoded at 128 kbps, to me, have some noticeable artifacts.
 
Steel Wheels said:
I haven't found any evidence of this in any of the mp3 files I have purchased from Amazon. As much as I'd like it to be true I haven't been able to determine what their files have been encoded with. Whatever they're using doesn't sound good to my ears.

I will agree that Lame is a top notch encoder. I can't tell the difference between a lame or itunes aac song at 256 kbps.
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This is the free song that you get when you sign up at Amazon.

amazon.jpg


There isnt a huge difference between Amazon's LAME & iTunes' AAC at the same kbps, but iTunes at first charged more for their higher bit rate songs, doesnt have its entire library available DRM free, etc. Whereas Amazon does & MP3 is more of a standard.
 
The lowest rate I buy (or encode) is 256. I will stick with Apples's 256 non-DRM or buy the CD. Hopefully Amazon will realize that sound quality is more important than non-DRM. Both would be great!
 
r88my said:
15 positives, 6 negatives. Why? This is a good announcement for everyone outside the US.
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positive/negative is a vague judgment, some apple stock holders/fanboys probably are thinking in terms of apple's profit rather than benefits for end users.

megfilmworks said:
The lowest rate I buy (or encode) is 256. I will stick with Apples's 256 non-DRM or buy the CD. Hopefully Amazon will realize that sound quality is more important than non-DRM. Both would be great!
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well, so I think you would be happy with amazon after all!
All songs I bought from amazon is 320kbps MP3s.
Hopefully amazon will realize....??? Time to update your information :)
 
peestandingup said:
This is the free song that you get when you sign up at Amazon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/peestandingup/amazon.jpg

There isnt a huge difference between Amazon's LAME & iTunes' AAC at the same kbps, but iTunes at first charged more for their higher bit rate songs, doesnt have its entire library available DRM free, etc. Whereas Amazon does & MP3 is more of a standard.
Click to expand...

I guess their library must be inconsistent as far as encoding methods. None of the songs I have purchased reflect this information in iTunes.
 
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