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Amazon MP3 Review
- Tracks from amazon are paid for on a per song or per album basis
- You are required to sign up for a free account before downloading any music
- The costs of downloads are as follows
- Individual songs - $0.89 up to $0.99
- EPs - Usually under $4.99
- Full Albums - $4.99 up to $9.99
- Free tracks available for download
- Preview 30 seconds of any track
- Download DRM free tracks
- Software compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux
- Software helps manage your downloads and import them to iTunes or Windows Media Player
- Own every track you download
- Huge music library of 5 million+ tracks
- Amazon has signed deals with all 4 major record companies
- Browse albums by price
- Download whole albums for as little as $4.99
- Burn downloaded tunes to an unlimited number of cds
- Copy downloaded tunes to an unlimited number of portable devices
- Download tracks in MP3 format at 256kbps
- Songs available for as little as $0.89
- Buy tracks with Pepsi Stuff points
- Give Amazon Music gift vouchers
- Frequent special offers on tracks and albums
- New tracks added every day
Amazon MP3 is a relatively new competitor in the music download service market. It hasn't been around as long as some of the big boys, but still offers a huge library of music to download. Building on the Amazon brand name, and offering the high level of customer service we have come to expect, Amazon MP3 is a serious contender in our top ten list. Here's why...
Amazon is a name that has become synonymous with online shopping; it was surely only a matter of time before they decided to try and tap into the music download scene. Not only have they thoroughly succeeded in this, they have done it with the typical style backed up by substance Amazon is known for.
When you first start to browse the music download section of the Amazon website anyone who has ever purchased anything from them (and there can't be many of us left that haven't) will feel right at home. Buying a song or an album is a very similar process to ordering a CD from the website, except that you get to download your choice instantly. Although, even if you already have an Amazon account, you will need to go through a couple of steps to set it up for one click purchasing from the music download section. This only has to be done once, then ever after you are free to download tracks whenever you want and it will automatically be charged to you credit card. (We should also point out here that the service is only available to customers with a credit card from an American bank registered to an address in the U.S.A.)
The range of tracks on offer from Amazon MP3 is pretty impressive - although that's to be expected seeing as Amazon are the only online retailer to have signed a deal with the four big record companies. This means that you will find all the latest releases from the most popular artists as well as the back catalogues of almost anyone you can think of. There are still a few licensing issues, as always, which mean there might be the odd track that isn't available, but Amazon assure us that they are doing everything they can to secure new licensing deals.
Although Amazon doesn't offer a music player, it provides a free and handy tool to organise your downloads and help to import them into your favourite player, such as iTunes or Windows Media Player. It's a nice to use, functional piece of software, but it doesn't pull any punches. You don't have to use it if you only want to download individual tracks, but for whole albums Amazon insist that you use it.
The one thing that did slightly annoy us about using the Amazon website to download music is that it can sometimes feel a bit cluttered. Admittedly there are lots of great features to it, but it would be nice if you could get rid of some of them from time to time. For example we don't need to be told everything we looked at last time we visited the site on virtually every new page. Having said this though, the features which recommend new music based on what you like are really useful, and the search functionality is second to none.
Regarding Digital Rights Management (DRM), since Amazon is an online music store and not a subscription based service everything you download is yours to keep and do as you please with - within the terms of the licensing agreement. Tracks are downloaded as MP3 files with no DRM restrictions meaning you can copy them to any number of CDs or portable music players.
So is it good value for money? Everything you buy from Amazon is paid for per album or per track and the prices are some of the best in the market. Before you can download anything you must sign up for an Amazon account and set it up for one click ordering from the music arm of the site, but this is free to do.
After that, you can download tracks for $0.89 - $0.99 depending on the song, and albums for as low as $1.87 - although the cheaper albums are mostly EPs. On average most popular albums come in around the $8.99 mark.
AmazonMP3.com delivers everything you could want from an online music service. It has been the pioneer of features like offering DRM free tracks and 256 kbps quality tunes and we are sure it will continue to push things forward. It has a slightly smaller music library than some of its competitors which sets it lower down the list, but the collection is growing every day and is sure to catch up before too long. Amazon MP3 provides and excellent service which is improving all the time.
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