Review
by: Museekster
Amazon MP3
sells unprotected music at affordable prices,
without the Digital Rights Management restrictions that you
encounter when buying
songs at services like iTunes,
Napster and
Rhapsody.
You can download using your browser but it's advised to use the Amazon MP3 Downloader, a tiny program that will also automatically add new tracks to your iTunes or Windows Media Player library. All completed downloads are ready for listening and/or syncing to a portable player, iPod included. Great!
Catalogue
Amazon has so far signed agreements with two of the Big Four record
labels: EMI and Universal. This causes some major holes in the
catalogue, still the two million–plus tracks must contain something for everyone.
Files are delivered in VBR MP3, encoded with the LAME encoder using the alt-preset extreme switch. This produces excellent audio. You need bionic ears to tell the difference between these MP3's and the original CD.
It's also good to know that each MP3 comes with embedded album art.
Price
Tracks cost 89 or 99 cents a piece, and you buy entire albums from $5.99 to $9.99. This makes Amazon a strong competitor to the almighty Itunes Music Store, which offers DRM free music for a much higher price.Pros
- reasonable pricing;
- great audio quality;
- no DRM copy protections;
- fair catalogue including major artists;
- compatible with all portable players;
- excellent download manager;
- files are properly named and tagged;
- embedded album art.
Cons
- MP3 only;
- limited catalogue.
Conclusion
Amazon MP3 has everything to become the top destination for digital music. Finally a service that offers music by major artists in MP3 format, that is sure to pay the artists. Let's hope Sony BMG and Warner will open their catalogs to this service so we can buy all our music there. The features of the website are well-thought-of and the download manager is simple but very effective. The feature that automatically adds new downloads to your iTunes or Windows Media Player library is just cool.
Even the payment procedure is a smooth experience. Once your first payment is processed, costs for all further downloads are automatically deducted from your credit card. Pricing is still somewhat high compared to the rogue Russian competitors, but you know that at least some of the money reaches the artist.