Amazon.com sounds off with competition for iTunes
In a move to challenge the dominance of Apple Inc.’s iTunes Music Store in the digital music market, Amazon.com today launched a public beta version of its Amazon MP3 digital music store, where shoppers can buy CDs as well as digital downloads. “Amazon is the only online music retailer capable of giving iTunes a run for its money,” says James McQuivey, an analyst who follows the digital entertainment industry for Forrester Research.
Amazon, after testing the new music site privately, is making it available to the public at AmazonMP3.com, where shoppers can download from a selection of more than 2 million songs as well as order from a stock of more than 1 million physical CDs. The digital selection pulls from more than 180,000 artists represented by more than 20,000 major and independent labels offering songs free of digital rights management restrictions, or DRM, which limit the amount of time consumers have access to digital music.
But Amazon MP3 is noticeably lacking the major music labels Warner Music and Sony BMG, which have refused to offer DRM-free content, McQuivey says. “This store will only succeed if Warner Music and Sony BMG give in and allow their music to be sold DRM-free,” he says.
He notes that Warner Music and Sony BMG have also declined so far to offer DRM-free music on iTunes and other sites, and he expects the two music giants to eventually join the DRM-free market on Amazon. “They’d be fools not to since this is the one shot they have of enabling a competitor to the dominant iTunes store, currently on track to sell 20% of all music in the U.S. this year,” McQuivey says.
Meantime, shoppers on Amazon MP3 will find an extensive amount of popular music from two other major labels, EMI and Universal, he says. Only EMI has agreed to offer DRM-free music on iTunes, he adds.
Moreover, Amazon’s strong sales of MP3 music players should help it do well in the digital music market. “With a steady stream of MP3 players shipping out the door every day, Amazon is perfectly positioned to sell music to the masses,” McQuivey says.
"This new digital music service has already been through an extensive private beta, and today we`re excited to offer it to our customers as a fully functional public beta,” says Bill Carr, Amazon’s vice president for digital music. Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
Most digital songs on Amazon MP3 are priced from 89 to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents, Amazon says. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise. Using the Amazon MP3 downloader, which itself can be downloaded for free at Amazon MP3, users can save songs to iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries.
A spokesman for Apple, No. 15 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, did not return a call for comment.
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