Mumbai: Amazon.co.uk launched Amazon MP3 – the simple-to-use digital music store offering over three million DRM-free (Digital Rights Management) songs, which will work on any MP3 player including the iPod- with top-selling albums.
Amazon MP3 has all the convenience, choice and value that customers have come to expect from Amazon.co.uk. Using the Amazon Downloader, customers can automatically transfer DRM-free songs in a matter of seconds to their computer or music libraries such as iTunes and Windows Media Player.
Amazon MP3’s growing selection of over three million songs covers every genre and includes all four major labels – SonyBMG, Universal Music, EMI Music and Warner Music –and leading independents such as Cooking Vinyl, Harmonia Mundi, Beggars Banquet, The Orchard, Concord and Ioda. The selection covers every genre from pop and folk to classical, from blues and jazz to hip-hop and from dance and techno to rock&roll, with tens of thousands of tracks being added every day.
At launch, Amazon MP3 features a large selection of best-selling albums including some of this year’s biggest and most influential releases, such as Only By The Night by Kings of Leon, Take That’s The Circus and The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow. There’s also a selection of classics to grace anyone’s record collection, including Blue by Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin’s IV and Kanye West’s Graduation.
Amazon EU Retail vice-president Greg Greeley said: "We’re excited to provide our UK customers with more ways to discover and enjoy great music. In addition to the millions of low-priced CDs available in our music store, Amazon MP3 now provides a vast selection of DRM-free albums and songs across every genre you can think of, ready to enjoy in seconds. With some of this Christmas’ biggest albums from £3, it’s a great opportunity for customers to experience the quality, choice and convenience of Amazon MP3."
EMI Music SVP sales & commercial development, UK & Ireland Matthew Crosswaite said, "Amazon are a valued global partner who put the consumer experience first. We’re excited about their DRM-free store coming to the UK and we believe that this will be a very positive development for digital music buyers in Britain."
Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK chairman and CEO Ged Doherty said, "Amazon’s music services in the US have attracted new digital music consumers and helped grow the digital market. We have high hopes that it will have the same impact in the UK. Amazon are an excellent and well trusted retailer, this new store can only be good for UK music."
Warner Music UK SVP commercial and operations Alan Young said, "The launch of Amazon MP3 in the UK further extends our ability to offer fans an exciting range of flexible and feature-rich digital music experiences from our local and international artists. This partnership is also a powerful new opportunity for us to explore ways of distributing MP3s and physical formats via the same platform."
Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available encoded at 256 kbps to deliver high audio quality. Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, including PCs, Macs, iPods, Walkmans, Zens, iPhones, RAZRs, and BlackBerrys; organize their music using any music management application, such as iTunes or Windows Media Player(TM); and burn songs to CDs for personal use.
