A while back we posted about Amazon tightening their relationship with NBC. It seems like Amazon has been quite busy lately as they have just opened their digital music store. Amazon’s digital music store already contains over 2.3 million songs of your favorite artists and the best part is that none of the songs are protected against copying!

By shopping at Amazon MP3 you can purchase individual songs as well as entire albums. All of the files that you download [for a price] can be transferred to discs, other computers, and is compatible with the Microsoft Zune and Apple iPod. Songs at Amazon MP3 range from 89 cents to 99 cents and the price for albums range from $5.99 to $9.99. This is a giant step for Amazon considering the fact that Universal, EMI, and thousands of independent labels have already signed to sell music on Amazon.

The great thing about Amazon’s music not protected against copying is that buyers will be able to play music on many more devices. “Although digital rights management helps to stem illegal copying, it can frustrate listeners by limiting the types of devices or the number of computers on which they can play music. Copy-protected songs sold through iTunes will generally not play on devices other than the iPod, and iPods will not play copy-protected songs bought at rival music stores.”

“To help stop music piracy some record labels add a digital watermark to MP3 files that indicate what company sold the song, and Amazon adds its own name and the item number of the song for customer service purposes.” - Bill Carr Vice President for Amazon MP3

Now that Amazon has entered the market they will be a serious competitor for Apple. However, to play a major competitor they will need to “do a good job at building their store.”

Tags: Business, Amazon, Amazon MP3, Music, MP3, Entertainment, Online Music, iTunes, Apple

[viw NYTimes]

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