Amazon.com Launches Public Beta of Amazon MP3, its DRM-free music store

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Earlier this year I wrote that Amazon.com would be launching their own DRM-free digital music store. Well, here it is. Today they announced the public beta of their store, named Amazon MP3.

Because of the DRM-free nature of the downloads, you won’t find any Sony BMG or Warner Music Group titles here (you will find EMI). But that’s no different than the DRM-free music on iTunes, with prices lower than at iTunes.

DRM-free music at iTunes runs slightly higher than their normal prices (well, when you map out it percentage-wise, it’s not so slight) at $1.29 vs 99¢. At Amazon MP3 songs range from 89¢ to 99¢, with more than half of the 2 million songs priced at 89¢. And the top 100 songs will be 89¢ (unless otherwise marked). Meanwhile albums will run from $5.99 to $9.99, with the top 100 best-selling albums at $8.99 or less (once again, unless marked otherwise).

In a statement from their press release, Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music said:

“Amazon MP3 is an all-MP3, DRM-free catalog of a la carte music from major labels and independent labels, playable on any device, in high-quality audio, at low prices. This new digital music service has already been through an extensive private beta, and today we’re excited to offer it to our customers as a fully functional public beta. We look forward to receiving feedback from our customers and using their input to refine the service.”

We Say: What do I think? It’s cheaper than iTunes, right? And what does everyone want (sometimes to the detriment of our health, in terms of lead-laden toys)? Cheaper, cheaper, cheaper. Amazon.com is also a pretty popular online store (to make an understatement). Though it won’t make a serious dent overall because of the lack of some of the big record labels, it will most likely dent the DRM-free sales at iTunes.