Amazon Finally Launches MP3 Download Store; Pricing Still Wrong

from the about-time dept

It's been rumored for ages, but Amazon has finally launched its MP3 download store, hyping up the fact that it's DRM-free. Amazon had gone back and forth on this idea for a while, at one point apparently considering teaming up with Apple on iTunes, only to later plan to go it alone. At one point, the rumor making the rounds was that Amazon felt it would be too difficult to compete with iTunes and had temporarily scratched plans for an offering. That was until folks at the company realized that the achilles heel for iTunes might be its DRM.

And that brings us today, with Amazon launching a DRM-free mp3 download store. It's definitely a step in the right direction, but it's still got some problems. First, the selection is definitely lacking. While the company has brought together an awful lot of content, there are still many record labels (and bands) that fear DRM free music (ignoring, of course, that most CDs are DRM-free). The second problem is that it missed the chance to shoot at the real achilles heel of iTunes: the pricing model. The songs all cost either $0.99 or $0.89, which is way too expensive in an age where people can carry around iPods with 160 gigs of content. Now that labels are finally coming to terms with the fact that DRM is a dead-end concept, the next big revolution will be in the price of music. So while Amazon got the first part right, the second part is still open for those who now want to attack the achilles heel of both Amazon and Apple.

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