Amazon VS iTunes
As you’ll begin to notice with the “wax picks” section, I’ll link up the Amazon MP3 Dowload store significantly more than iTunes. There are a 5 big reasons for this:
1) The biggest thus far, is that the music is cheaper. Amazon has put some really killer (and chart topping) albums on sale for ridiculously low prices. I picked up Coldplay’s new EP Prospekt’s March for $0.99 (yes, the whole album for 99 cents). You may have thought that the cheap bargain bin was reserved for obscure or washed-up artists producing mediocre music, but Amazon is doing everything they can to prove that wrong. The new Killer’s album was on sale the week of its release for $3.99, Copeland’s new CD was $3.99, I picked up Justice’s Cross for $5, Even Katy Perry’s smash album was $5. The best way to stop illegal file sharing, which I am 100% against, is to do exactly what Amazon is doing. Good music, cheap enough so that people have no reason not to buy it. Each time I find a great album cheap it’s like that rare CraigsList find, or a garage sale treasure; or perhaps more like finding a current chart-topping album in that big bin of random $2 CDs and cassette tapes at the gas station. I’ll be sure and share any finds with you guys, so stay tuned to the Wax Picks thread.
2) DRM-FREE. I know Apple has been working on figuring out all of this DRM drama for years now (iTunes plus). Amazon’s music is all DRM Free. It will play on any player. I like making compilation CDs and mixes for the car and at work. Few things are more frustrating than hitting a limit on how many times you can use a song or burn it to CD. We don’t pay for music to “lease it” from the artist or label, we should own the particular song to listen to wherever and whenever we want. I don’t want this one point to morph into a rant on the pros and cons of DRM, so I’ll wrap it up here. Let’s suffice it to say that DRM exists to protect against piracy. People who want to pirate music will always find a way to pirate music. We all know the “burn-it re-import it” trick to get around it in iTunes. The best way to combat piracy is going to be by making music more accessible to people legally through sites like noisetrade and through alluring pricing (see point 1 above).
3) MP3 Quality. In iTunes, you have to buy songs in the upgraded “iTunes Plus” format to get 256 kb/s DRM-Free songs. Their typical downloads are encrypted at 128 kb/s AAC streams with FairPlay encrytion for DRM. Amazon’s standard is 256 kb/s MP3 DRM-free.
4) Full iTunes integration. So now you like the Amazon store, but how can you function without the iTunes application? How will you get these songs onto your iPod? The Amazon store uses a tool called the Amazon MP3 Downloader, which is cross platform, and a really quick install. It manages all of your Amazon downloads for you, and automatically puts the songs in your iTunes library as soon as they’re downloaded. You don’t even have to close and reopen iTunes. As soon as the song is on your hard drive, you’ll see it pop up in the iTunes library. Seamless.
5) Selection. This isn’t really a section where Amazon one-ups iTunes, but more where it at least holds par. A lot of people think that they can only find the artists they like on iTunes, and that Amazon’s selection will be limited since it’s not as well known. I have yet to find an album I was looking for that wasn’t on Amazon. I’m sure there are some artists that iTunes carries that Amazon doesn’t, but as long as Amazon has the albums I’m looking for, it doesn’t matter.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I don’t work for Amazon (shocking, I know), and this isn’t intended as an Apple-hater thread, as I love the vast majority of Apple products. My goal is simply to get good music in your hands so that you can grow your pallette a bit and get inspired. The Amazon store is the best solution I’ve seen for that purpose so far. I’m definitely open to new and better ones, and will absolutely let you know if I find any.
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