Comments on: Apple or Amazon: Who will you buy your tunes from?

By: Luis

Luis — Fri, 18 May 2007 14:20:11 +0000

Amazon, iTunes doesn’t work natively on Ubuntu…

By: Fernando

Fernando — Fri, 18 May 2007 03:28:53 +0000

But when will we the consumer actually be able to obtain DRM-free tracks? Apple/iTunes announced this a couple of months back…Still no sign of any of EMI catalog available DRM-free. Paul McCartney’s got a new release coming in June. No DRM-Free tracks.

By: bill

bill — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:40:31 +0000

I primarily like eMusic for my indie content fix. It's inexpensive and offers DRM free downloads.

As far as major product, I'll buy it wherever I can get it cheaper. DRM really isn't a factor for my decision making as I've personally experienced zero frustration on that level.

No matter where I acquire it, I'll still use iTunes to manage it.

By: Jim Greer

Jim Greer — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:59:07 +0000

I’ll probably look on Amazon – if it’s available as a download, I’ll get the download. If not, I’ll do what I do now – buy the CD there and rip it into iTunes as soon as it arrives.

By: Will

Will — Thu, 17 May 2007 03:56:17 +0000

I can’t wait to see how Amazon’s service evolves. I’m happy to see more competition gunning for Apple’s market.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:51:24 +0000

I will go with iTunes for one reason iTunes player, with Amazon, you have to download one a time.

By: Mike Puchol

Mike Puchol — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:00:20 +0000

I’m just waiting for someone to admit they buy DRM-free from iTunes…to play on their iPod. If you buy into the whole iPod/iTunes ecosystem, whether music from Apple’s store has or not DRM doesn’t really matter. Unless of course you are planning on getting the next hot portable music player…which will be…?

On a second note, some Russian music stores such as mp3search.ru have come to comply with a license mechanism called FAIR, which pays higher royalties than ROMS (used by AllOfMP3 for example), and allows for audits on sales among other control measures. The end result? $0.19 a track, and not a bad catalog. Recently, Chronopay removed payment gateways for music stores who chose ROMS over FAIR, thus rendering AllOfMP3 unable to get payments other than through street-sold gift cards.

By: Ian McKellar

Ian McKellar — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:52:13 +0000

Amazon’s customer service is miles ahead of Apple’s. What I really want is to be able to download the MP3s from Amazon for free when I buy a CD while I wait for it to ship to me.

By: Dave Siegel

Dave Siegel — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:19:38 +0000

For me it's a trade-off in time saved.

I am predicting that downloading from amazon into the iTunes music folder and importing that folder into the iTunes library is going to be a faster process than what I do currently...which is to download through iTunes, find a blank CD and burn the new purchase to CD, then re-import the CD over the top of the DRM version I downloaded from iTunes.

It sure is annoying when I forget that I haven't done this for a music purchase and copy the music onto my phone, only to find when I'm on the road without my iPod that I can't play the music. Buying from Amazon would make that a think of the past.

By: Marc Cohen

Marc Cohen — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:04:42 +0000

I think the whole issue of DRM is a red herring. What people really want is free music, not DRM free music. For more discussion of this issue check out http://ad-supported-music.blogspot.com/2007/04/drm-free-dollar-higher.html

By: Libu

Libu — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:00:35 +0000

I will certainly be going with Amazon, especially if they are going to providing MP3 format. The problem with itunes is that I’m stuck with one format and limited music players on my PC.

By: Janko Roettgers

Janko Roettgers — Wed, 16 May 2007 19:34:43 +0000

I think come summer EMI tracks will be available as MP3s pretty much everywhere – Amazon and Apple just get to announce it first. And we’ll see lots of innovation. Think podcast subscriptions, store widgets, social networks …

By: Nick Hawkins

Nick Hawkins — Wed, 16 May 2007 19:25:07 +0000

I still buy the CD then rip it myself, from Amazon, of course.

By: Dilip

Dilip — Wed, 16 May 2007 19:08:27 +0000

I’m done with Apple and their backup and limited play music models……I’ll head to Amazon now, unless Apple makes my itunes library DRM free

By: LoganTurbo.264

LoganTurbo.264 — Wed, 16 May 2007 19:07:43 +0000

I’ll gladly buy from both of them and from anyone else who sells the songs I want in a DRM free format. That’s the whole reason for the removal of the DRM in the first place.

By: david hyman

david hyman — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:49:10 +0000

mog will be integrating in “buy track at amazon” as soon as it’s available.