News Amazon to launch iTunes rival

[The_Pope]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/02/16/amazon_itunes/

[Kipman725]

Hmm at $2 for a 320k/s album perfectly legally I think this is more of an Itunes rival:
http://www.allofmp3.com/

and they don't pay money to the likes of foney (from there faq):

"is it legal to download music from AllOFMP3.com?

The availability over the Internet of the ALLOFMP3.com materials is authorized by the license # LS-3М-05-03 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and license # 006/3M-05 of the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). In accordance to the licenses' terms MediaServices pays license fees for all materials downloaded from the site subject to the Law of the Russian Federation "On Copyright and Related Rights". All these materials are solely for personal use. Any further distribution, resale or broadcasting are prohibited.

The works available from ALLOFMP3.com are protected by the Law of the Russian Federation "On Copyright and Related Rights" and are for personal use of a buyer. Commercial use of such material is prohibited. Recording, copying, distribution on any media is possible only upon special consent of a Rightholder.

The user bears sole responsibility for any use and distribution of all materials received from AllOFMP3.com. This responsibility is dependent on the national legislation in each user's country of residence. The Administration of AllOFMP3.com does not possess information on the laws of each particular country and is not responsible for the actions of foreign users.
"

[Veles]

Meh

I still prefer buying an album over buying downloadablwe mp3 tracks, then I can rip it at any quality I like, and I also have the advantage of not losing my music if I forget to backup and I lose all my data for some reason or another.

Same with games, I'd never purchace a downloadable game on the internet I can buy on CD/DVD. People like to have something they can feel in thier hands when they buy something, another reason I'm a bit spectical about buying downloads from xbox live.

[DXR_13KE]

i hope they can stand up to itunes so there is some competition.

[ozstrike]

The reason why iTunes is so popular, is that it is so integrated and easy to buy stuff. Unless Amazon do this, and make it easy to transfer files to a player (for the average Joe) and possibly with a half decent player, then I don't see it taking off as iTunes did.

[Galls]

Originally Posted by Kipman725

Hmm at $2 for a 320k/s album perfectly legally I think this is more of an Itunes rival:
http://www.allofmp3.com/

and they don't pay money to the likes of foney (from there faq):

"is it legal to download music from AllOFMP3.com?

The availability over the Internet of the ALLOFMP3.com materials is authorized by the license # LS-3М-05-03 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and license # 006/3M-05 of the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). In accordance to the licenses' terms MediaServices pays license fees for all materials downloaded from the site subject to the Law of the Russian Federation "On Copyright and Related Rights". All these materials are solely for personal use. Any further distribution, resale or broadcasting are prohibited.

While i use allofmp3 it is illigal to download music from allofmp3.com in the US and most of the EU, do to fair trade laws.

[The cheapskate]

untill amazon have the ipod. it will fail. simple as, the ipod is the mp3 player as far as every consumer will see it.

dont belive me?

look around you, your average person doesnt buy an mp3 player, they buy an apple mp3player, thats it, as far as it goes. No mp3 player will rival a ipod. not because its better, but becasue its an ipod.

I dont own one I have a zen 20 gig, bt lets face it, we undestand that we want quality, features, space, size & battery.

mass people dont. they want an ipod, they run I tunes, they download from that network, as its easy simple, and done.

end of.

[webbyman]

Originally Posted by The cheapskate

untill amazon have the ipod. it will fail. simple as, the ipod is the mp3 player as far as every consumer will see it.

dont belive me?

look around you, your average person doesnt buy an mp3 player, they buy an apple mp3player, thats it, as far as it goes. No mp3 player will rival a ipod. not because its better, but becasue its an ipod.

I dont own one I have a zen 20 gig, bt lets face it, we undestand that we want quality, features, space, size & battery.

mass people dont. they want an ipod, they run I tunes, they download from that network, as its easy simple, and done.

end of.

only reason i want an ipod is so i can put my music on a relativly easy to use mp3 player... with reasonable software...

however the ipod it's self and itunes are terrible! not worthy of the crown, the only reason it's there as everyone else produces and even worse, even more annoying, even less efficient e.c.t software and hardware for their mp3 which simply fall on it's arse...


and to put it simple amazon are going to fail....
unless they produce some good software make it easy for the most retarded person they can find and cheaper than itunes by 9p+

[Shadowed_fury]

Buy CD - Rip CD - Plug in Rio Karma - Wait a few seconds - Unplug Rio Karma - done.

Thats how hard it is for me. Such a tough life I have sometimes.

[Firehed]

And to think that Apple charging 99c instead of the full buck has cost them almost ten million dollars...

Competiton is all well and good, but as has been mentioned, they'll need it to integrate with everything, and do it well. Unless they strike a deal with Apple, the iPod is out (unless the "big four" go for DRE-less tracks; fat chance), so there goes 80% of your target audience. Granted if they managed downloads with no restrictions at a price at or better than what iTunes has to offer, they'll do great business, if they're smart enough to make an iTunes plugin or something so it'll automatically be added to the music library. However the music industry has forced themselves into a position where there can only be one big player, thanks to DRE, and in the long run, everyone loses out (except the pirates, who get unrestricted media for free).