Loving the Amazon MP3...

[Chris Gohlke]

<p><img style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1216174879.usr10.jpg" alt="" /></p><p>For me, Amazon's MP3 store represented a chance to finally get into purchasing MP3's. Prior to this, a majority of my collection came from ripped CD's, but over say the last 5 years, I've hardly purchased any CD's because frankly there was not much out there that I liked well enough to buy an entire CD. When Amazon's store first opened, I purchased a couple of tracks just to try it out and then kind of put it on the back burner. Well in the last few weeks, I've rediscovered their store and wanted to pass on some of the great deals that they run. First off, as you know their tracks DRM free, and run mostly around $0.99 each (with some of the more popular songs at $0.89). I find myself just buying tracks of songs I like from the radio without giving the price a second thought. Of course that is old news for those of you that have been buying from iTunes for years. What I'm really liking is that Amazon runs daily specials on entire albums for really cheap prices. For example a few days back I picked up Beck's &ldquo;Odelay&rdquo; for $3.99 and today I picked up &ldquo;The Best of John Mellencamp: 20th Century Masters&rdquo; for just $1.99. Additionally, on Friday's they offer 5 albums for $5 each. Sure, they might be taking a loss on some of these, but they are getting me in the habit of checking in daily to see what they have to offer, and of course as long as I'm there, I may end up picking up a song or too. Overall, I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that Amazon has come up with yet another way to separate me from my money, but you live in a territory that offers it, be sure to give Amazon's MP3 store a second look.</p>

[ptyork]

Thanks for posting about this Chris. I never really took a look at Amazon's MP3 service before thinking it an unnecessary addition to my iTunes Store purchases (yet another way to spend 99 cents on a song). However, the specials were something that I was unaware of. The high-quality VBR MP3 and the DRM free part are bonuses, but the specials are great. Just got a great Chet Baker album along with that Mellencamp one and I'm sure I'll keep checking it out. Even updated my 1-click settings to make it easy. :)

[msb2ncsu]

Your post describes me perfectly. I had tried AmazonMP3 several months back when there was a free track my wife wanted. It was not until a SlickDeals post highlghted Led Zeppelin's Mothership for $5 and Weezer's Pinkerton for $2 that I actively used it. Now, I make pretty much all of my music purchases through AmazonMP3. Between the Daily Special (usually $2 or $4) and the 5 for $5 Fridays I have really added to my music collection in the last month or two: Counting Crows, Coldplay, Daft Punk Death Cab for Cutie, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Jason Mraz (just to name a few of the newer releases). The frequently updated free selections have also exposed me to some artists I never would have given a listen to otherwise (I can think of 3 that are now favorited in my zune).

When the pricing is equal I will use the Zune Marketplace because I want to support the Zune. Even if a new release is stll the full price of $8.99, I no longer hesitate with the mp3 purchase because it is harder and harder to get a CD at retail for under $13. I'm tired of showing up at BestBuy and the $9.99 website price turns to $14 at checkout. Plus, I usally never touched the media again after ripping it, so I might as well save a few bucks and skip the process.

[alanjrobertson]

I was impressed with Amazon's MP3 store - extremely competitive prices when buying from the UK and excellent sound quality too. Unfortunately they've now closed the loophole they had when it first opened and UK users are now blocked from purchasing - no doubt until they setup a UK store that will charge 99p (close to $2) per song :(

[Jason Dunn]

I love Amazon's MP3 store - I wish it was available to Canadians such as myself without trickery. :rolleyes:

[alanjrobertson]

I tried trickery from the UK but it didn't seem to like my CC. When it first opened I just needed to give a US address and it worked but they seem to have tightened up on things - annoying when I'm trying to spend money with them!

[Jason Dunn]

I tried trickery from the UK but it didn't seem to like my CC. When it first opened I just needed to give a US address and it worked but they seem to have tightened up on things

Indeed, I've noticed the same thing - rather frustrating. I've found some success with Rhapsody and using a proxy client called Ultrasurf, though I frequently have problems with the download of the album in ZIP format not being valid so I'm not quite ready to recommend it to everyone just yet.

[timmy]

As a European (more specifically a Swede) I also often encounter these problems. iTunes store here does not have movies, they sell songs for (USD) $1,50. Local online shops even have them at $2. Full albums in stores cost $30 regular price.... (Now we have a ridiculously high VAT of 25%, but it doesn't explain the difference to 100%)

When will the online retailers realize that the web is global? Even if I can't buy things from them, I can still see the prices e.g. at Amazon and draw conclusions like that they really want their world to be divided to keep prices up.

(I have to add that my points above only applies to downloadable content since I can buy physical CD's from Amazon)

[Rocco Augusto]

I can't stand Amazon's MP3 service. It's a money pit! Everytime I go in there I get sucked into their large selection of high quality un-DRM'd MP3's and next thing you know I'm $40USD poorer. Services that good and easy to use should come with warning stickers :mad: :) :p :D

[crashdaddy20]

As a daily iPod user checking Amazon MP3 is now a ritual. The price is solid and the MP3 downloader is flawless in dumping the purchased album right into iTunes with album art. The iTunes store is still a primary purchase point for me, but Amazon MP3 is close second and gaining quickly.

I do have a question for you Zune users. Does the MP3 downloader from Amazon that is is programmed for WMP work with the Zune software or do you have to drag MP3 files from WMP into the Zune software?

Just wondering.

[msb2ncsu]

The Amazon downloads are instantly picked up by the Zune software and added to any appropriate autoplaylists and such (no user action required).

[txa1265]

I really like the Amazon service - I've loved Amazon forever, so this was a natural extension. I still use iTunes plenty, but this stuff just works great.

Contrast with Rhapsody - where I've had to deal with dropped downloads, manually editing the MP3 ID tags to fix problems, and so on.

[Jason Dunn]

Contrast with Rhapsody - where I've had to deal with dropped downloads, manually editing the MP3 ID tags to fix problems, and so on.

Yeah, I've purchased a few albums off Rhapsody in the past week and several of the ZIP files have been corrupt upon download. :rolleyes: