So I tried the new Amazon MP3 store this evening. My impressions:

  • Unlike iTunes, which only sells DRM music from selected labels and artists, all music on Amazon is sold without DRM, at prices significantly cheaper than iTunes: 89 cents per track vs. 1.29 for DRM-free tracks iTunes. The lack of DRM is crucial if you want to play your music on a non-iPod player, or if you want to escape the limits on sharing and burning tracks.
  • Pricing for albums, however, isn’t as predictable as you might expect. For example, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass is priced at $13.55 for 28 tracks (saving $16.72 versus the per-track price). But on iTunes, the same record (DRM-free!) is only $9.99, despite the higher per-track price of $1.29. But on normal sized records (i.e., non-double albums) Amazon can save you some money. Feist’s The Reminder is only 7.99 ($9.99 on iTunes). Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here is $4.45 ($7.99 on iTunes).
  • The 256k MP3 bit rate is respectable. It’s equal to iTunes’s 256k ACC format. But I’d prefer the variable bit rate Emusic uses.
  • Downloading music from Amazon is quick and painless. If you already have an account, you can use your existing user and payment info. And at just 607 kb, The Amazon downloader is a refreshingly lean piece of software. Much lighter than Emusic’s bloated new downloader. Once you’ve confirmed your account and payment info, you can download multiple records during the same session without going through that step again.
  • Like the new Emusic download manager, the Amazon downloader will automatically add your music to iTunes or Windows Media Player. That doesn’t matter too much to me, since I use the sickeningly superior MediaMonkey player, which automatically finds new downloads.

Overall, I’m kinda impressed. I might use Amazon.com for things I can’t find on Emusic. But I wouldn’t get too carried away. Amazon’s better than iTunes, and there’s more options if you have to have DRM-free sound. But you still pay more than the 25 cents per track Emusic charges you (average price of a subscription). And I’d still like to see more social features from a music downloading site.

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