Many have speculated that Amazon.com is trying to play 'catch-up', and even rival Apple. Wednesday the website announced that it will indeed launch a digital music store offering millions of songs. Expected to open sometime later this year, many iPod enthusiasts are looking at it as a direct challenge to iTunes, Apple's popular music database.
The store will contain literally millions of songs in the DRM-free MP3 format, including over 12,000 record labels. That's right, every song in the virtual store will only be available in the MP3 format, with no digital rights management software to be seen.
With such music, you could listen to it on nearly any player – PCs, Macs, iPods, Zunes – and burn it to a CD to take with you in your car, or anywhere else.
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos was quoted saying "Our MP3-only strategy means that all the music that customers buy on Amazon is always DRM-free and plays on any device,"
Is Amazon.com trying to 'go after' Apple, and if so, will they be successful? iTunes has a nearly cult following, and many iPod lovers wouldn't use anything else.
However, all fans of great music on the computer are looking forward to the outcome - one way, or another. |
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