Go To Latest Video ReviewsAmazon MP3 Getting UK Launch Next Month
| Author | Gordon Kelly |
| Published | 17th Sep 2008 |
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TrustedReviews NewslettersWhile you get credit in the technology industry for being first, that doesn't always mean much when the big boys move in...
Clearly feeling the hurt from being beaten to the punch by 7Digital's DRM-free capture of the Big Four record labels earlier this week Amazon has been stirred into launching its UK service in October (though I'm sure it would claim the move to be unrelated - yeah, right).
Like 7Digital, Amazon MP3 (no, it still hasn't updated that banner) only sells music in the DRM-free MP3 format - though at a lower 256Kbps bitrate compared to the former's impressive 360Kbps - and has deals inked with industry cornerstones EMI, Warner Music, Universal and Sony BMG.
A UK launch is long overdue however with the company stating way back in January that "We have received thousands of e-mails from Amazon customers around the world asking us when we will make Amazon MP3 available outside of the US... We are excited to tell those customers today that Amazon MP3 is going international this year."
I imagine had Amazon admitted the first country to see the service outside the US wouldn't be until sometime in October, that reaction would have been rather more muted.
Still - more than one year on from Amazon MP3's US debut - we are at least getting a piece of the action, even if our need no longer seems so great...
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Stephen Allred said on 18th September 2008
Hugo said on 18th September 2008
Until an online store offers lossless downloads I'll be sticking to CDs. Wait until a couple of months after launch and you're paying £5/6 a disc (on average) which is ch... more
Gordon said on 18th September 2008
@Stephen - it's because the MP3 format is known to the public and also cannot contain DRM. It makes a clear, simple and I'm 100% compatible with any device statement.
Alistair B said on 18th September 2008
I just cannot see a time when I will download music anyway, mainly due to the fact, as Hugo stated earlier, that cds are just such good value now. I want to be able to do as I plea... more
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They are really offering downloads as MP3s? A standard ratified in 1994? MP3s give you poor sound quality per bit rate when compared with modern lossy compression formats such as... more