It’s easy to be on the bleeding edge of the latest
technology based in San Francisco, but I tend to be more of a follower in other
areas, such as music.
I always seem to be one step behind a friend here, who
recommends the latest hot bands and the best way of being educated on and
acquiring music.
It was him who first recommended Pitchfork to me for music
reviews and eMusic for downloads free of digital rights management (DRM)
software.
He was ahead of me in switching back to buying CDs and
ripping them to portable media players as we became disillusioned with
subscription services and restrictions on the portability of music.
So I took note when he said he was buying a lot of music
from Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 service these days.
An album generally costs $8.99, or 89 cents a track, cheaper
than regular CDs and the music can be burned to your own CDs an unlimited
number of times or transferred to any device.
The service has just gained extra appeal with the news that
Warner Music Group is making its catalogue available. It joins EMI, Universal
Music Group and a host of independent labels, significantly increasing the
choice available.
In contrast, Apple’s iTunes store only offers DRM-free music
from one of the majors – EMI.
Amazonmp3 is therefore becoming a strong alternative
to iTunes and the iPod universe, which is due in no small part to the majors not
wanting to be held hostage to Apple’s pricing policies. And it is finally
giving consumers what they really want – music without restrictions on their
use of it.
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