Introduction
Launched in 2007, Amazon MP3 marked the first large assault on iTunes. While it’s not the first digital music download service back by a large corporation (who knew Wal-Mart had a music download service?), this product is unique. Not only was this new effort backed by a large corporation, but it is a corporation with a long respected internet history.

Selection
The selection of music on Amazon MP3 is enormous. While the selection is not quite as large as iTunes, it has most of the same songs/albums as iTunes. The music diversity on Amazon MP3 is also quite good. If you like Top 40 type music, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll find what you’re looking for. If your taste varies from popular music, Amazon MP3 can also wet your music appetite. I had a very hard time not finding the music I was looking for. In fact, of the ten or so artists I looked for, only the most obscure one wasn’t listed. Bottom line, unless you are a complete underground/unsigned indie junkie you’ll find something you like. Even if you are, it can’t hurt to see if Amazon MP3 carries it. Amazon is constantly adding labels to their MP3 offerings.

Price
Most single tracks cost between $.89 and $.99 cents each. Based on my browsing, albums cost between $5.99 and $9.99 each. Most single discs run between $8.99 – $9.99 however. Double discs cost more than a single disc. I’ve seen some double discs for $12.99 and $16.99. Price will likely vary by artist, label, etc.

Music Format
Amazon MP3 offers DRM free 256 kbps mp3 files. Good quality sound and DRM free; about as good as you can get from a download music service.

Experience
As with all the iTunes alternatives I’m reviewing for this article series, Amazon MP3 is a web application. The website features a similar design to the Amazon Store. Searching for a song or album is as easy as using Google and typing into a search box. Once you have found what you want, click buy.

With the help of the Amazon MP3 Downloader, the experience using Amazon MP3 is quite seamless. If you are purchasing individual songs, the use of the Amazon MP3 Downloader is optional. If you are purchasing entire albums, the use of the Amazon MP3 Downloader is mandatory. I do however recommend using it for all your purchases since it does make life easier.

After buying a song or album on Amazon MP3, you’ll download a .amz file. When you have the Amazon MP3 Downloader installed, opening the file will launch the Downloader and you’ll see the songs being downloaded to your computer. Once the download is finished, the Downloader will automatically add the song to iTunes. The album art should also be included!

Overall
Amazon MP3 is by far the best competitor to iTunes. The experience of finding and downloading music is very easy. The quality and selection of music is great, as is the price. If you’re looking to spend your music dollars somewhere other than iTunes, Amazon MP3 will likely be your best choice.

This is part 1 of 3 of the Guide to iTunes Alternatives series.

I’m going to do my first multi-part post here at Apple Mac HQ. Leading off this first, is a review of the various alternatives to iTunes. I’ll be focusing on what I consider the “major players”. Those services are Amie Street, eMusic, and Amazon MP3. While there are other music services such as Napster and Rhapsody, their business model is subscription based which is outside the scope of this music service comparison.

Over the next week or so I’ll do an in-depth review of each service and then make some final recommendations. Stay tuned for my first review early next week!

When you have the most popular digital music player on the planet, the largest digital music store, and billions of cash on hand, you tend to attract outsiders who want a piece of the action. Apple, meet Stacie Somers.

On December 31st, 2007, Stacie Somers filed a class action lawsuit against Apple for violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act among other things. You can view the entire 24 page filing here. So what nuggets of information can we find within?

Page 2 # 6: “Online Video make it superior to DVDs purchased from traditional retail outlets.”

If you think video hobbled with DRM, a lower picture quality than DVD, and no special features makes it “superior”, the I’ve got some great beach property in Kansas to sell you Stacie.

Page 4 # 13: “Apple has repeatedly acted to foreclose even the possibility ofcompetition by using its market power to force consumers to choose its products based not on their merits, but on the fact that technological restrictions and incompatibilities prevent them from buying its competitors’ products.”

So you’re saying that it’s not because the iPod looks amazing, easily works with the music management software (iTunes), or is so very easy to use? What you’re saying is that when you go to pay for your Zune the credit card machine breaks down because Apple remotely disabled the connection to the credit card processor? Makes perfect sense to me.

Page 4 # 14: “Apple deliberately makes digital music purchased at the Music Store inoperable with its competitors’ Digital Music Players. Thus, in order to play music from Apple’s Music Store, the dominant Online Music retailer, the consumer’s only option in the Digital Music Player market is Apple’s iPod. Given that other companies’ products cannot even begin to compete for the business ofmost consumers, Apple can and does sell the iPod at prices far above those that would prevail in a competitive market.”

Unless you’ve been under a rock lately, Steve Jobs himself called for the abolishment of DRMs in his famous Thoughts On Music letter. Why can’t Apple just sell their music without DRM? It’s not their music to sell and the record labels won’t let them sell it without DRM (except EMI).

You say music you buy on iTunes can’t be played on other digital music players? A quick search will tell you that the SandDisk Sansa Connect, along with other players that support the AAC format, will in fact play the iTunes Plus tracks that you can purchase from iTunes. Sure, you can’t play DRM’ed songs on other players but there is always the analog hole of burning them to a disc and then reimporting them. In fact you can play all music purchased in iTunes on other players if you want to do a little bit of work.

No one is forcing you to buy an iPod Stacie. In fact, you can buy a Zune for the exact same prices as an iPod. Oh wait, “Apple can and does sell the iPod at prices far above those that would prevail in a competitive market.” Wait, the Zune and the iPod are the same price? I thought you said…oh never mind.

Page 4 # 15: “Conversely, Apple also makes the iPod unable to play music sold at its rivals’ Online Music stores. Consumers who have iPods can play only the Online Music they purchase from Apple’s Music Store, allowing Apple to further entrench its nearly complete monopoly in both of these markets.”

So those tracks from eMusic, Amie St, and Amazon can’t be played on the iPod? Stacie, did you or your lawyers do any research? Stop by my house and I’ll show you my iPod and iPhone working perfectly fine with the songs I purchased from Amazon.

Page 4 # 16: “In the past year, as improved hard drive and video compression technology have made it possible to play video content such as television shows on Digital Musie Players, Apple has begun using these same illegal tactics to block consumers from purchasing and playing Online Video from its rivals’ online stores and video-enabled Digital Music Players.”

How many times do I have to say it? It’s not Apple mandating the use of DRM. The content owners set the policy and most want DRM on their product. Online digital video distribution is a much less mature market so don’t expect non DRM video anytime soon.

The rest of the filing rehashes some of the same statements above and goes into some detail about the European Union’s lawsuits against Apple. From what I’ve read (in bold below “Apple’s Response”), it’s again the music labels and publishers that seem to be the stumbling block related to some of those EU lawsuits.

The suit includes a lengthly section about the iPods inability to play WMA files. WMA files are songs encoded with Microsoft’s DRM technology. Using that same logic, I think I’ll sue Nikon because my D40X used SD memory instead of Compact Flash.

While the lawsuit is pretty typical of many lawsuits these days (full of crap), it does bring up one interesting question. Why hasn’t Apple licensed FairPlay (Apple’s DRM technology)? The licensing fee and additional revenue from music/video purchases could be substantial. Of course that would mean working with outside vendors in ensuring their players work well with iTunes. Apple isn’t know for playing well with others so that’s likely the main reason why they haven’t licensed FairPlay. Would the revenue be worth it though? Share your thoughts about the lawsuit or the licensing of FairPlay below.

[Via The Macalope]