Amazon launches MP3 Store in the UK (including Take That’s new album for £3)
December 3, 2008 by Stuart
Americans have been buying MP3s from Amazon for ages now, but finally us Brits can get in on the action. The site has launched its MP3 Store this morning, and it’s got some pretty killer deals.
Like what? Well, the new Take That album is going for £3, as are the latest albums from Kings of Leon, Coldplay and Girls Aloud. Individual songs start at 59p, while albums are pretty variable, although those new ones that aren’t on sale seem to be hovering around the £6.49 mark.
There’s some missing artists at the moment, mind - fans of Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand will be disappointed at the lack of albums from those artists. But it’s very early days, and the actual experience of buying an album or track is very slick indeed.
The new MP3 store is also integrated into the rest of the site, so when you look at the Take That album, there’s a button below the price on the right-hand side telling you how much it is on the MP3 Store too.
(via Music Ally)
I think this, combined with the huge storage on the Nokia N97, is going to cause a headache or two for Apple. I haven;t downloaded a song via iTunes for several months now and am not going to bother replacing my knackered iPod.
Amazon is a great trusted brand IMO and as they have my deets already it is very easy for me to buy music, especially in my favoured MP3 format.
While I approve of the 256 bit rate files on offer at Amazon as opposed to iTunes’s 128 as standard, it’s still not enough IMO. If you are going to play it through your hi-fi and enjoy it it needs to be a Lossless format. It’s the only way.
Sorry, geeky I know, but it makes a massive difference to not only the way music sounds, but also the emotional responses that it brings about.
And since storage is so cheap at the moment, why not fill up your massive hard drive with better quality music rather than cut down versions with no dynamics and a lack of detail.