Yokimbo

In case you missed this yesterday, Amazon launched a new music store, Amazon MP3, to better compete with the 800 lbs gorilla, Apple (iTunes). I won’t go into a ton of detail here, partly because other people have already done so, notably John Gruber (here and here), but mainly because of time constraints (this is the “Life at f/2.8 blog after all). A few quick facts about Amazon MP3:

• 2 million songs (iTunes has 6 million)

• high bit rate 256kbps (more on this later)

• typically $.89 - $.99 per song (depends on length) (iTunes costs $1.29 for 256kbps aka iTunes Plus, $.99 for 128kbps)

• $4.99 - $9.99 per album (cheaper than iTunes)

• Best of all, no DRM!!!! It’s also free of personal information (unlike Apple’s DRM-free iTunes Plus songs)

One thing to note is the difference between the format Amazon is using (MP3) and the format Apple is using (AAC), AAC offers higher quality compression. So, a 256kbps MP3 is not quite as good as a 256kbps AAC. Will you notice the difference? Maybe not. It depends on a multitude of things, your hearing, what you’re playing the music on, the room your listening to it in (or the headphones you’re using), and the source material (loudness war) for starters.

Is this the be all, end all of music stores? Will it put Apple’s iTunes out of business? No and no. What it will do is provide the type of competition people have been looking for, namely decent quality DRM-free music at an affordable price.

I recently purchased the new KT Tunstall album, Drastic Fantastic. It’s available on Amazon MP3 for $8.99. iTunes has it for (I think and I’ll double check tonight) $9.99. Were that “all she wrote” I would have purchased the album on Amazon MP3. However, iTunes also has a “Deluxe Edition” of the album that includes two books and five music videos (worth $1.99 each) all for $14.99. Since getting an AppleTV as a wedding gift, I’ve actually been more inclined to watch or at least play music videos. (They’re great for parties.)

Amazon MP3 won’t keep me from making iTunes purchases, but I will certainly check it before making any future music purchases.