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iTunes Still #1 Music Retailer, but Amazon is creeping Up

W

w00master

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 18, 2002
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http://tinyurl.com/5qqbvn

According to the latest MusicWatch consumer surveys from The NPD Group, a leading market research company, the five leading music retailers in the U.S. for the first half of 2008 (January through June, based on purchases of CDs and a-la-carte digital music downloads) ranked as follows:

1. iTunes
2. Wal-Mart (Walmart, Walmart.com, Walmart Music Downloads)
3. Best Buy (Best Buy, Bestbuy.com, Best Buy Digital Music Store)
4. Amazon (Amazon.com, AmazonMP3.com)
5. Target (Target and Target.com)
 
It's not surprising that Amazon is moving up the ranks. I like Apple, but the Amazon MP3 store is way better than iTunes. For me, it has the same selection, has no DRM, and also has variable pricing. No need for me to try to convert my music that I purchased to mp3 format for play on my car CD player.
 
I wouldn't mind switching over to Amazon of they only had as much content as iTunes. An example, iTunes has U2 Live in Paris, nowhere to be seen on Amazon. There are numerous other CDs that I would buy in an instant if only Amazon carried them. No wonder iTunes is number one.
 
Apple still has the advantage because of its integrated ecosystem. I mean, it couldn't be easier to get to the iTMS. That said, the dearth of DRM-free music is a problem. It will be interesting to see if Apple can expand its DRM-free offerings. There is bad blood between Apple and Universal, so Warner and Sony/BMG may be more likely to make a deal with Apple.
 
Even if Apple were to make all of their music DRM-free they still are using a proprietary format that is not widely supported. I have a car CD player that can play mp3 files off of CD-RWs, when I buy stuff from Amazon it's all set to be played in my car or on another mp3 player. Songs from iTMS have to be burned as audio then re-ripped back as mp3 or using another less legal method to "crack" a song I purchased and put it into a useable format.
 
hexonxonx said:
I wouldn't mind switching over to Amazon of they only had as much content as iTunes. An example, iTunes has U2 Live in Paris, nowhere to be seen on Amazon. There are numerous other CDs that I would buy in an instant if only Amazon carried them. No wonder iTunes is number one.
Click to expand...

True, but the reverse is true as well, without the addition of DRM. Amazon has by far the largest collection of digital music without DRM. For me, if I find an album I want to get, I always check Amazon first. Additionally, with the Amazon plug-in (which works on every major browser: Safari, Firefox, IE), any song/album that I purchase on Amazon gets immediately added to my iTunes library - virtually seemless.

To your comment on "no wonder iTunes is number one," yes, that's definitely true and shows the success by Apple, but I would like to point out: look how fast Amazon is rising in the ranks. They are *already* the #4 music distributor in the world, and the mp3 store is only available in the U.S.! Imagine what will happen once Amazon MP3 store goes worldwide. Will they beat out iTunes? Maybe not. But, I don't think that matters for the moment.
 
JayMan8081 said:
Even if Apple were to make all of their music DRM-free they still are using a proprietary format that is not widely supported. I have a car CD player that can play mp3 files off of CD-RWs, when I buy stuff from Amazon it's all set to be played in my car or on another mp3 player. Songs from iTMS have to be burned as audio then re-ripped back as mp3 or using another less legal method to "crack" a song I purchased and put it into a useable format.
Click to expand...
Sorry, this is totally wrong.

Apple has a lot of options, but the three most common by far and in order of importance/use are:

1) AAC (non-proprietary and widely used by other music players.)
2) MP3 (a popular choice but waning due to the poor quality)
3) Apple loss-less (so the tiny audiophile market can feel special)

Nothing you have said is actually true.
 
JayMan8081 said:
It's not surprising that Amazon is moving up the ranks. I like Apple, but the Amazon MP3 store is way better than iTunes. For me, it has the same selection, has no DRM, and also has variable pricing.
Click to expand...

I can't agree more. Amazon has higher quality music, and it's cheaper, with no DRM. Of course people are gonna buy the cheaper music. i also love that amazon has daily deals and 5 albums for 5 bucks every week
 
Remember, Apple is not at fault with the iTunes Store DRM. Steve (and other media outlets) have confirmed that Apple is trying to move the store to all iTunes Plus (256kbps AAC, DRM-Free), but the record labels don't want this to happen.

Why you say? They want competitors like Amazon to have an advantage to gain market share. They don't like the power Apple has, which is ironic because Apple started the (legal) music downloading craze thats now making these labels all this money! (Remember that the record labels initially laughed at the idea and only agreed to it out of panic of declining music sales.)
 
w00master said:
.To your comment on "no wonder iTunes is number one," yes, that's definitely true and shows the success by Apple, but I would like to point out: look how fast Amazon is rising in the ranks. They are *already* the #4 music distributor in the world, and the mp3 store is only available in the U.S.! Imagine what will happen once Amazon MP3 store goes worldwide. Will they beat out iTunes? Maybe not. But, I don't think that matters for the moment.
Click to expand...

Umm, sorry if I'm missing something here but the information posted at the start of this thread says that Amazon is number 4 in the US, not the world. If you start looking worldwide I suspect that iTunes would be waaaay out in front as it's the only thing I can think of that's even close to a worldwide presence right now. Same for Amazon, if and when it goes worldwide it'd probably shoot past every retailer with a physical presence because they're (usually) limited to one country or, at least, one geographic area.

Secondly, and this really is important, iTunes is the ONLY one on that list that is entirely digital. Amazon's figures include BOTH their CD sales and MP3. Reading the linked article Amazon seems to be resisting the sales drop off that other retailers are experiencing in physical media, largely because they're THE name in on-line sales for physical media. Without a detailed breakdown of figures for Amazon MP3.com we have no idea how this business is doing. Personally I see no way that listing AmazonMP3.com on its own would get it into the top 5 and I'd be surprised if it was in the top 10.

Let's face it, for iTunes to be at number one in that list is an incredible achievment and one that no other retailer is even close to matching on a like-for-like basis.
 
ghall said:
DRM stands for digital rights management. It basically encrypts your music to prevent you from sharing it with others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
Click to expand...

i read that link you gave. It says apple now offers DRM-free music for the same price. Is it not avaiable for all songs yet? So if i donwload a DRM song...put it to my ipod..is that about all i can do with it? Cant put it on someones else ipod or mac? what about to multiple ipods that belong to just me?
 
Virgil-TB2 said:
Sorry, this is totally wrong.

Apple has a lot of options, but the three most common by far and in order of importance/use are:

1) AAC (non-proprietary and widely used by other music players.)
2) MP3 (a popular choice but waning due to the poor quality)
3) Apple loss-less (so the tiny audiophile market can feel special)

Nothing you have said is actually true.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's just my "out-dated" technology but I can't play AAC in my car CD player nor have I seen many cars coming pre-installed with AAC capable stereos. I also have not seen many music players capable of playing AAC audio either. Also if it was easily available more software players would be available as well. I run Linux at work and have only one choice for playing iTunes Plus tracks. Looking back at my post I would say my statement that AAC is proprietary is not true but I can guarantee the rest is, unless you know more about my music devices than I do.
 
smiddlehurst said:
Umm, sorry if I'm missing something here but the information posted at the start of this thread says that Amazon is number 4 in the US, not the world. If you start looking worldwide I suspect that iTunes would be waaaay out in front as it's the only thing I can think of that's even close to a worldwide presence right now. Same for Amazon, if and when it goes worldwide it'd probably shoot past every retailer with a physical presence because they're (usually) limited to one country or, at least, one geographic area.
Click to expand...

You're definitely correct, and that was my error.

smiddlehurst said:
Secondly, and this really is important, iTunes is the ONLY one on that list that is entirely digital. Amazon's figures include BOTH their CD sales and MP3. Reading the linked article Amazon seems to be resisting the sales drop off that other retailers are experiencing in physical media, largely because they're THE name in on-line sales for physical media. Without a detailed breakdown of figures for Amazon MP3.com we have no idea how this business is doing. Personally I see no way that listing AmazonMP3.com on its own would get it into the top 5 and I'd be surprised if it was in the top 10.

Let's face it, for iTunes to be at number one in that list is an incredible achievment and one that no other retailer is even close to matching on a like-for-like basis.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right here as well, but I would argue that the reason why Amazon went from #5 to #4 is because of digital downloads. It's the reason why in the future Amazon will continue to catch up to iTunes. I wouldn't be surprised in a few years when iTunes (probably still #1) and Amazon are neck and neck.

Personally at this point, I prefer Amazon. I do a lot of purchasing at Amazon, so for me MP3 purchasing is a natural extension.
 
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