Amazon MP3 Store Ready to Roll
This looks promising. Amazon is setting its sights on the Apple iTunes store by rolling out an online music store of their own. Key stats: a catalog of 2.3 million songs, 256 kbps variable bit rate MP3s, DRM free, and lower prices (most songs are $0.89 to $0.99 versus $1.29 for a DRM free iTunes song).
From reports I hear, using the Amazon MP3 store is simple and pain free. Amazon even includes a downloadable utility that will automatically add your song purchases to your iTunes library.
I’ll eventually give this store a try. One thing currently stopping me is the fact that the store uses the MP3 file format. I’ve been a fan of the AAC file format ever since Apple introduced it into iTunes several years ago. I’d like to know how the two audio formats compare. Bit rate for bit rate, AAC is supposed to sound better.
The Amazon MP3 store might finally be a viable competitor to the iTunes store. This is great for consumers. Anything that puts pressure on Apple to improve and innovate can only help the world of online music.
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