Free Song Promotion Is Expected From Amazon
56593
At the Super Bowl next month, the music industry will be switching teams â from Apple to Amazon.com.
366275
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc   said on Thursday its digital music store will now  offer songs by artists on the roster of Sony BMG Music  Entertainment without copy-protection technology, known as  digital rights management.
731231
The popular site is aiming to beat Amazon online with a selection of unrestricted MP3 downloads.
506098
TechWeb - Amazon.com launches a video and movie download service that could eventually present a challenge to Apple Computer's iTunes.
319166
Along with its library of 2 million songs, Amazon.com is bringing something else to the online music marketplace: competition. When it opened Sept. 25, Amazon's MP3 digital download store undercut iTunes' prices on many albums. Its tracks, most of which sell for 89 to 99 cents, have higher sound quality than standard iTunes tracks and come without copy restrictions - known as digital rights management - that make it difficult to move tracks to a variety of portable devices, including iPods and Windows Media players.
439107
Amazon.com has added songs from Warner Music Group to the range it sells as MP3 files without DRM (digital rights management), the companies said Friday.The online retailer&#160;launched its music download service&#160;in September and now offers 2.9 million songs without copy prevention technology, including tracks from Warner, EMI, Universal, and 33,000 independent record labels -- although it has still not won over Sony BMG, the only one of the music majors still insisting on the use of DRM.Warner said it also planned to offer album bundles including exclusive tracks through the Amazon service.The move is a blow to Apple&#39;s iTunes Store, which has only persuaded EMI and a handful of independent labels to let it offer their tracks in the&#160;DRM-free iTunes Plus format it launched in May. The rest of the songs available through iTunes come with digital limitations on where they can be played, or how many times they can be burned to a CD.Three formats dominate the market for online music sales: MP3 and AAC, which are both open formats, and WMA, a proprietary format owned by Microsoft.MP3 files do not include provision for DRM: music recorded in that format will play on most digital music players, many mobile phones, and in software readily available for all the major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, opening up a huge potential market to Amazon and to other online music stores such as eMusic dealing in unprotected MP3 files.AAC is the format Apple chose for its iTunes Store. Most of the 6 million tracks in its catalog come wrapped in a proprietary DRM layer called FairPlay, although EMI and independents such as Sub Pop, Nettwerk, IODA and The Orchard also allow it to offer higher quality AAC recordings without DRM. The DRM-encumbered tracks will play on authorized iPods, iPhones, PCs, and Macs -- but won&#39;t play on digital music players from other vendors. Unprotected AAC files will also play on many mobile phones, PCs running Linux with the appropriate software, and even Microsoft&#39;s Zune digital music player.WMA files without DRM will play on PC or Macs using Windows Media Player, and some phones and digital music players -- although typically not on the same ones that play AAC files. Microsoft has also introduced a range of DRM systems enabling online stores to sell locked WMA files -- and later abandoned some of them, leaving a certain amount of confusion and doubt about whether devices and songs branded &quot;PlaysForSure&quot; really will play for sure.Industry executives expect initiatives such as iTunes Plus and Amazon MP3, which remove the DRM locks placed on music downloads by an earlier generation of music services, will encourage consumers to buy more music.Warner believes that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music, it said Friday.It may also persuade music-buyers to look at other brands of digital music player such as the Zune range from Microsoft, ending Apple&#39;s dominance of that market segment.With the locks off the music, Apple also faces the prospect of a price war with Amazon, which offers 1 million of its MP3 tracks for just $0.89, compared to the $0.99 Apple charges for all its tracks. Before the launch of Amazon MP3, Apple also charged a $0.30 premium for tracks in the iTunes Plus format, which is recorded at a higher quality than the DRM-encumbered versions. Other Amazon tracks sell for $0.99.
28265
Amazon.com has signed on Warner Music Group to its music download service, which aims to compete with Appleâs industry-dominating iTunes online store.
297334
Amazon said the deal makes it the only retailer to offer customer DRM-free songs in the MP3 format.
327974
DRM-free at last? Amazon looks set to plough into the digital music market next year. The retailer started romancing music labels last week.â¦
616719
Sony BMG Music Entertainment and online peer-to-peer software distributor Grokster are working on a new venture that is expected to offer paid and free song downloads over the Internet, sources say.
142585
Amazon.com  has signed on  Warner Music Group  to its music download service, which  aims to compete with Apple's  industry-dominating  iTunes online store.
354178
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said on  Sunday it will begin an international roll-out this year of its  digital music store that offers songs without copy-protection  technology known as digital rights management.
106977
Come Super Bowl Sunday, Amazon.com will get a leg up in the digital music race it's running against Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store. And not just any leg: Justin Timberlake's leg.
755123
Let's see if digital pirates are willing to watch ads to get music.
105531
Web retailer Amazon.com Inc. launched its much-anticipated digital music store Tuesday with more than 2 million songs, all without copy-protection technology.
449470
Amazon.com will start selling MP3 music files through its international Web sites this year, the company said Sunday. But details of the company&#39;s plans to expand its&#160;digital music service&#160;remain scarce.
319970
Beats Apple to the chase Online retailer Amazon has launched a new download service for movies and TV shows, pre-empting the expected launch of a similar service by Apple this week.â¦