Amazon.com's much anticipated DRM-free music store has launched a public beta with over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists on over 20,000 labels, including EMI Music and Universal Music Group.
The files purchased through the Amazon music store are compatible with any digital music player, including the iPod, Zune and more. Naturally they will work on Macs, PCs and pretty much any other device capable of playing MP3s.
Amazon MP3 slightly undercuts the iTunes Store by offering roughly half of the 2 million for 89 cents each and the top 100 albums for $8.99. The rest of the tracks are priced between .89 and .99. The iTunes Store's “Plus” tracks (the DRM-free files) sell for $1.29 each.
Perhaps the best news, and the most serious competition for Apple's iTunes Store, is that Amazon is offering 1-click purchasing and even has a new “Amazon MP3 Downloader,” which claims to “seamlessly add MP3s to iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries.”
If nothing else, Amazon's entry into the online music business is the first serious competition for Apple and could, one likes to hope, lead to price wars and improved offerings on both services.
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