By Zem Joaquin, ecofabulous.com
Consuming music digitally is clearly better for the environment than the shrink-wrapped, plastic-cased, truck-shipped CD alternative. But until recently, consuming digital music legally has been fraught with headaches. Amazon has changed all that with the launch of their new 'amazonmp3' music download store.
Why am I so excited? Three reasons:
1. All songs on amazonmp3 are in, you guessed it, standard mp3 format.
2. All songs are 'DRM-free' - meaning they have no copy protection. You can move them from one computer to another, one portable player to another, burn them to CD, etc.
3. Amazon provides a great software utility for PCs and Macs that adds your purchased songs directly into your iTunes library. Nicely done.
What about iTunes, you say? The iTunes application is my music organizer and player of choice, and the iTunes Store has a fantastic selection of music for sale. Some of the music for sale on iTunes is available in a DRM-free version called 'iTunesPlus'. The problem is these DRM-free tracks, when you can find them, show up on your computer in Apple's AAC format which is not supported on mp3 players other than the iPod. To make matters worse, iTunes Plus tracks also cost more than AmazonMP3 tracks ($1.29 vs. $0.89). Will Apple learn from past lessons and adopt the tried and true MP3 format for the iTunes Store? I doubt it... but I'm happy to know that my AmazonMP3 music purchases play perfectly on my iPod. Full review here.
Zem Joaquin
ecofabulous.com
Don't forget that in addition to the MP3 players, Amazon also launched an electronic book reader. Pretty nice - read a nice book review and immediately download the whole book.