Amazon unveils MP3 store :: Music News :: Articles

First it was your bookstore. Then your electronics store. Then your clothing store and garden furniture store. You can now add your former MP3 store to the list of establishments made irrelevant by the tsunami of consumption that is Amazon.com. That’s right, the Internet behemoth has gotten into the online tunes business, and though it does not yet carry every song ever written, it may prove more appealing than Apple’s reigning king of downloads.

Amazon MP3, which has been launched in a beta version, offers two million DRM-free tracks, a business model based on the odd notion that once you buy something, you get to own it and do whatever you want with it. Yes, very odd.

The songs are also cheaper than on iTunes (half at 99 cents and half at 89 cents), as are albums, most of which going for under $9.99, with some rather inexpensive selections, such as Another Brick in the Wall Part II – The Remixes, a three-track album priced at $2.67.

So far, only two major labels are on board — EMI and Universal — but thousands of smaller labels are represented. If Amazon MP3 is a hit, expect more big labels to cozy up to the company. In time, the word "iTunes" may seem just as foreign to your ears as similar relics from long ago such as “independent local bookstore” or “the mall.”

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