PC Magazine: Amazon MP3 Store a Winner

PC Magazine reviewed the Amazon DRM-free MP3 music store, saying that it combines “competitive pricing with an easy shopping experience and hassle-free listening.”

We gave the store a whirl here and can also enthusiastically recommend it. Here’s why:

1) Many tracks cost 89 cents, 10 cents less than the iTunes store. Albums also tend to cost less, with many priced at $8.99 and under.
2) All of the tracks sold sound better than iTunes songs, since they’re encoded at higher bit-rates.
3) The most important part: The tracks will play on any cell phone or MP3 player, since they’re in .MP3 format and lack restrictive DRM.

The only downside is that just two of the four major labels are on board: EMI and Universal. That means that about half the music you’d want to buy from the major labels still isn’t available. But for the tracks and albums that are, the Amazon MP3 store rocks. If the other two labels sign on, Apple will face its first genuine threat in the online music store market.

Amazon MP3 (beta) [PC Magazine]

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