Loving The Amazon MP3 Store

One of my biggest gripes with the major labels has been the lack of real choice in the matter of purchasing music digitally. iTunes 128k AAC files (with DRM) hold no appeal for me, due to both the sound quality and the DRM on the file, and up until recently, there was no alternative if I wanted major label music, except for illegal downloading. (I have and love my subscription to eMusic, but that's limited to independent labels.)

With the advent of the Amazon mp3 store, that is no longer true. I love it. It's not quite as seamless or sexy as iTunes, but the prices are better, sometimes significantly so, and the quality of the file, a 256k unprotected mp3, blows iTunes' offerings out of the water. I've been doing a lot of purchasing on the store, and I can't recommend it highly enough. I've found some great albums (Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane) for great prices ($5.99) and I'm trying really hard not to get addicted to the service.

Warner Music has just signed on with Amazon, leaving the SonyBMG label group as the last major to join. I'm sure they'll be on soon. Very quietly, the labels seem to have quietly put up the white flag in regard to DRM. Good for them...and good for the consumer. I absolutely recommend spending some time on the Amazon mp3 site; it's great to see, finally, quality offerings in the realm of major label digital music.