Wednesday, 26 September 2007

Amazon Gets Into DRM-free Online Music Retailing

Internet’s best bookseller Amazon.com has entered online music sales business by launching its much-anticipated digital music store. This move represents the first real assault on Apple’s dominant online music sales business—iTunes.

Called as Amazon MP3, it currently stocks about 2.3 million DRM free songs. Shoppers can buy and download individual songs or entire albums. The tracks can be copied to multiple computers, burned onto CDs and played on most types of PCs and portable devices, including the iPod and Zune.

Songs cost between 89 and 99 cents each and albums sell for anywhere between USD 5.99-9.99.

Major music owners such as Universal Music and British company EMI and many other independent music labels have signed on to sell their tracks on Amazon.

Amazon's store competes with Apple's market-leading iTunes that also offers some songs without so-called digital rights management technology that prevents unauthorised copies from playing.

Though questions of piracy abounds, Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president for digital music, said it would be up to customers to use the music they buy legally.