08 May 2008

On Amazon And The iTunes Music Store

Jeff Atwood has a great write up on his blog about why we should support DRM free music. For the most part I agree with his points (I love that Andy Baio quote). However, I think there's an aspect of the situation that's overlooked.

The real reason the iTunes music store was successful while so many others failed was in it's design and execution. Apple was the company that figured out how to make purchasing digital music fun, easy, and aesthetically pleasing. There's real value in the experience that Apple has created, that Amazon fails to provide.

I have not purchased DRM protected music in a long time. There's just too many other legitimate options these days. But if I have the choice of iTunes DRM free or Amazon I will choose Apple every time.

6 comments:

  1. music is art, art should be freely distributable as long as the artists get their share and not some large companies!

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  2. Even though AmazonMP3 is regularly 1 to 2 dollars cheaper than iTunes? Look at Mr. MoneyBags over there.

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  3. Sometimes people are just happy using what they are familiar with. Apple has name recognition and something about using your iPod and iTunes just seems like the right way to go. In some part I think I am also just loyal to Apple. Great post!

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  4. I'd go with Amazon. Higher quality audio files unless iTunes has changed since I haven't downloaded from them in over two years now.

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  5. @adam For full albums maybe. About 10 cents for a track. As someone who works to design quality user experiences I have to believe they have an intrinsic worth.

    @tijiana It's that iPod+iTunes experience that turned the online music business around. Nothing wrong with customer loyalty as long as it's not blind.

    @spammer scammer As I said I don't buy the standard iTunes files, I'll buy from Amazon or just buy the CD in that case. However, the iTunes Plus files are 256k AAC files vs Amazon's 256k MP3s. AAC is a modern, less supported, but better quality format.

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