Amazon MP3 vs. iTunes

So Amazon finally released their MP3 (DRM Free) Music store, and as usual with new store releases, beat out the price on some Apple store prices so why not take a peek and see what makes this kitten purr, and with the music being easy to use across the board I should have no problems transferring files across MP3 players or my phone for ring tones, so on with the show!

First and foremost when going up with the current Music giant of the Apple iTunes sTore a few things are key, first and foremost that would be the price which for most $0.99 a track is not a bad deal, but on some albums Amazon is offering a discount of at least $1.00 on new albums, for my little test I wanted to snag KT Tunstall’s “Drastic Fantastic” after enjoying her last album, I figured a buck cheaper than iTunes would be nice, plus then it’s easy to use elsewhere on some of the tracks if I like em.

The service is Amazon’s standard look, but no complications, one of the big things I always was a little “eh” on in the Apple store is the fact that your blasted with comments others have about the album and not just presented with the previews of the album, well Amazon got it right in my mind, they put the MP3 clips right there, granted Apple’s previews are higher quality you get the gist of the music by listening to the previews. Only downside to the web interface is currently the fact that you must buy a single album at a time, no cart to purchase several albums, but as a “Beta” it is to be expected that some additions to the service will come in time.

Along with the web based UI comes a Desktop Interface, which was probably the smartest idea yet for a service appealing to a online music buyer is the issue of having a storefront/management system for each style of Music, so even if on Windows you had Windows Media & iTunes, not to mention the slew of others like RealPlayer, their downloader app really solves that issue, after the download of the album the tracks + artwork were all loaded onto iTunes (on a Mac!) so they have used the core services you already use and made it work.

Quality is good, a 256kbps its a good crisp sound, the audio quality to my “simple” ears really isn’t anything different, however I am sure audiophiles in the days to come will come out with complaints about this or that, MP3 is a compressed audio format, so really I am sure there is loss somewhere, but to me someone who isn’t listening to the quality of the sound, but enjoying the quality of the music, not a big “factor” for me.

Last bit I had on the docket was a test run of the “MP3 Music Downloads for Any Media Player!” tag of the new music, and so far no issues (not that I expected any) tested on my iPod, T-Mobile Dash, and old Treo650, works fine - and the ID3 tags haven’t had your credit card or personal information added, only note is in the comments section it notes a “Amazon.com Song ID:” which seems harmless enough, but who’s to say that is not a reference back to one’s order for tracking if you decide to share your MP3’s to the rest of the world, and while some would argue “I paid for it, I can do whatever I want” well if un-DRM’d music is abused I imagine the labels will quickly pull out their support, iTunes is a proprietary store, and offers a level of security, but at the same time it gives record companies warm fuzzies that their tracks are safe, share with a friend, but don’t share with the world - common sense.

All in all, pretty happy with the experience, biggest two grips would be:

1. Low Quality MP3 previews in the store.
2. No Shopping Cart to Mass-Purchase.

That’s my two bits. Give it a whirl yourself.