Rumors: Amazon to offer DRM-free Music Store?
One of latest big buzz items concerns whether Amazon is courting the digital download market. Apparently, it has started talks with the major music labels. The Register talked to an Amazon spokesman who confirmed that the company was looking specifically into digital downloads.
Less clear is the rumor that Amazon may be considering DRM-free offerings, a move that the RIAA is hardly likely to cheer about but one which would give Amazon a strong fighting chance in a market dominated by iTunes.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brady J. Frey said 12:21PM on 12-20-2006
If they lose the DRM, they'd get my business.
Reply
dpratt said 12:28PM on 12-20-2006
Amen - I'd never buy another CD again, and I suspect that I would spend 10x more on music than I do now. If I get DRM-free music in a decent bitrate format, I'd be an absolutely voracious consumer.
Reply
Chris said 1:23PM on 12-20-2006
Here, here! I'd jump from iTMS to Amazon or any other online vendor that offered per-track downloads with no DRM.
I still hate the idea of a subscription. I listen to music I bought in 1986. It's a personal thing, not cable TV.
Reply
alexander said 1:54PM on 12-20-2006
"1. If they lose the DRM, they'd get my business."
Same here! That would be great!
Reply
Mikek said 2:14PM on 12-20-2006
If a subscription is involved then forget it. Apple DRM is the least of the evils right now. If Amazon comes to the plate with DRM free, pay once, play many then I would jump ship on iTMS in a heart beat.
Reply
Will said 2:14PM on 12-20-2006
Ooh. I'd definitely start buying there. I don't buy from iTunes anymore because I can't un-DRM what I buy there anymore.
Let me rephrase - I'd definitely buy there if they offer single-track purchases. If I have to buy the whole CD, I'd (almost always) rather buy the physical one.
In terms of "subscription" models, I did rather enjoy Rhapsody back when I had a PC. It was particularly valuable to me for *finding* new music, eg for genres they don't play on the radio. The 1-minute clip is just not enough for me to tell if I like a song, so being able to listen to whole tracks, several times, from any track in their library, before deciding which tracks to buy and keep was well worth the $10 a month for me.
Reply
Metryq said 3:35PM on 12-20-2006
"I don't buy from iTunes anymore because I can't un-DRM what I buy there anymore."
Will, did your CD-R burner keel over dead? You could also use workarounds like Audio Hijack or Sound Flower.
Reply
The Jeremy said 4:35PM on 12-20-2006
How about DRM-free AAC files from Amazon? After all, audio-wise, AAC is superior to MP3...and WMA.
If one of the RIAA members - EMI - can sell DRM-free music in MP3 format on their website, then Amazon should be able to as well, but with a better format. Same goes for Apple.
And when will the iTunes Store (and the iPod itself) support AAC+? Give us the option of buying higher quality formats, like Apple Lossless, now that iPod storage is getting cheaper for much larger capacity drives and flash.
Reply
Leonard Nimrod said 5:14PM on 12-20-2006
If Amazon can swing a non-DRM deal with the RIAA then so can Apple. After all, it's not Apple's decision to add DRM to their iTS content, it's the music industries.
But there are ways to remove the DRM from your iTS content. A couple are mentioned above and there is one called DRM Dumpster THAT IS COMPLETELY LEGAL.
Reply
Jamus said 9:38PM on 12-20-2006
The big question is, if they do it, will it be Mac-compatible DRM-free tunes? I can see how they would use some craphappy WIndows-only downloader to get them.
Reply
Will said 11:13PM on 12-20-2006
Metryq: If you mean solutions that rely on re-encoding, that doesn't count as far as I'm concerned. Too much hassle, takes too long - not to mention, if I have to re-tag anything, then that's right out. At that point, I'd just as soon go out and buy an actual CD -- and I'd just as soon my money go to something other than giving them the impression I support the whole DRM thing anyway.
Reply
mike said 12:51AM on 12-21-2006
If they lose the DRM, they'd get my business
--
they'd also lose content-providers. funny how that works, eh?
Reply
Domenic Sionne said 12:00PM on 12-27-2006
One way to cause the industry to re-think DRM and it's limitations is for 'everyone' to just stop purchasing music - period.
Someone like the EEF needs to step up and start a movement. It would be very easy to spread the word and get people to buy into this. I would easily make that sacrifice. Could you? ;^)
Reply