Review by: Museekster
On December 1, 2008, AmazonMP3 was made available in the UK.
Like their US-store the UK version of AmazonMP3 sells unprotected music in the one format that anyone wants, and plays on any player: MP3!.

But there is one striking difference: AmazonMP3 UK is cheaper. Strange as it may seem, AmazonMP3 UK is in many cases cheaper than Allofmp3. Who would have thought that this could become reality?

Too bad downloading is only possible if you are in the UK.

Not in the UK? Don't go away!

For those outside the UK it may be worthwhile to shop around in the CD, DVD and Blu-ray department. Due to the collapse of the British Pound you can strike incredible bargains. Especially if you live in a country where the Euro is the currency. How about the latest CD's for just 7 Euro?  

Catalogue

All four major labels are represented with deep catalog. Currently over 3 million songs are in store. That is way less than the US store (over 6 million songs) but new material is added every day.

Files are delivered in 256 kpbs VBR MP3, Excellent audio, you need bionic ears to tell the difference between these MP3s and the original CD. 

It's also good to know that each MP3 comes with embedded album art.

Price
Tracks cost 59p to 79p a piece, and you buy entire albums from £3 to £8,69. This makes Amazon.co.uk a lot cheaper than the iTunes Music Store. Amazon even beats some rogue Russian download services with this appealing price scheme.

Pros
Cons
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. 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 a bit higher than the rogue Russian competitors, but you know that at least some of the money reaches the artist. That's feels a whole lot better.