Amazon opened up its iTunes competitor, the Amazon MP3 Store
Marking the launch of the store the company has launched a wave of aggressive price cuts on new albums from artists including Take That, Kings of Leon and Coldplay, making albums available for just £3.
The store, which offers music in the MP3 format free of stifling DRM, also offers flexible pricing – long a bone of contention between Apple and the music labels.
Song prices start at 59-pence, new albums lurk above or below the £6.49 mark, MusicAlly reports in its UK first look at the service, praising its ease-of-use and integration across the rest of the Amazon website.
However, the initial launch appears short of indie labels, despite which Apple’s iTunes fiefdom in the UK now faces its toughest challenge yet.
Apple this week introduced a few albums for under £4, including the latest Oasis and Fleet Foxes releases.
Recently it was noted that DRM-free MP3s from major labels were being sighted inside the iTunes Plus section of the Apple iTunes Store in the UK. While these tracks have since disappeared, the launch of Amazon’s MP3 store in the UK suggests Apple may already have plans to match its DRM-free offering…
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
[...] move to introduce its DRM-free MP3 download store in the UK is beginning to generate reactions from within the UK music industry, with competing [...]
December 4th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
[...] the heels of its soft launch of the Amazon MP3 store in the UK yesterday, the online shopping giant has invaded the iPhone, launching its own shopping [...]