If you own an MP3 player (iPod, Zen, or Zune), you probably love the fact that you can easily find and download new music using the software supplied with the device. In particular, you probably use iTunes, Rhapsody, or Zune Marketplace if you own an iPod
Recent Changes Mean Greater Compatibility:
If you haven’t been paying attention, you may have missed the fact many music download sites (including Apple iTunes and the Amazon MP3 Store) have gone “DRM-free.” This means music downloaded from these sites lacks “Digital Rights Management” copy protection. This means that any DRM-free tracks you download from these sources can be played on any MP3 player: iPod
Zune Marketplace is slightly less “open”, as the only way to get DRM free music is via the “Zune Pass” program, and you’ll only get 10 DRM-free song credits per month (at a $15/month price). Yes, you can stream music and download it for use on your Zune, but if you change your mind and switch devices, all that money spent on DRM music is wasted. Still, the fact you can still get DRM-free music is a definite improvement!
Recent Changes Mean Lower Prices:
With regards to iTunes, music now ranges from $0.69 to $1.29 per track. This is a slight change to their previous pricing scheme of $0.99 everywhere. The Amazon MP3 Store
Being that it is the holiday, I compared a few of my favorite holiday albums:
- A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi Trio – $5.00 (Amazon), $7.99 (iTunes)
- Merry Christmas by Andy Williams – $9.99 (Amazon), $9.99 (iTunes)
- At Christmas by James Taylor – $7.99 (Amazon), $9.99 (iTunes)
That is just a sampling, but it shows that you can possibly save some serious cash over the long run by shopping around between iTunes and Amazon if you are searching for music.
Note: If you’ve yet to by an MP3 device but the cost of purchasing all your favorite music has you worried, then you may want to look into the Zune. As mentioned, the “Zune Pass” for the Zune Marketplace costs around $15 per month, but allows you to stream unlimited music to your PC and download pretty much any music you want to your Zune MP3 player. While the $15/month is kindof pricey, if you look at the volume of music you have access to download and use on your Zune as part of the monthly price, it may make it an attractive alternative to the Pay-per-Track and Pay-per-Album setups of iTunes and Amazon. At $0.99 per track (or $5 to $10 per album), it gets costly to build a music library in a short amount of time!
Drawbacks Remain:
I am the first to say I’m glad to finally have options when purchasing my music. However, there are still some drawbacks to the various stores:
- As mentioned, the Zune Marketplace is still somewhat limited in the way you can get DRM-free music. This means that if you have a Zune for a year and decide to switch to iPod, that’s $180 you just spent for (at most) 120 DRM-free tracks which can be used on your iPod. That $180 could have bought you 36 of Amazon’s full-length $5 MP3 Albums. Just a thought…
- The Amazon MP3 Store doesn’t seem to have nearly the selection of the iTunes Store, but this is probably not an issue if you’re sticking to some of the more popular hits or current music.
- The Amazon MP3 Store is exactly that, a storefront. If you’re looking for a recommendation engine that can really help you discover new music, iTunes or the Zune Marketplace may be more worthwhile.
- The Amazon MP3 Store uses a small piece of “Downloader” software (which automatically adds your downloaded DRM-free track into iTunes or the Zune software). This is an extra step that my be confusing for less technical folks (or annoying if you’re more of a one-click-and-done type of person).
- Apple iTunes downloads DRM-free tracks in the AAC format by default (not MP3). While most MP3 players can play the AAC format, you will have an extra step to convert the AAC to MP3 format if you wish to do so.
Conclusions:
It really becomes a personal preference as to whether you choose to pay for songs via a subscription service (such as the Zune Pass) or by track/album (iTunes/Amazon). However, when it comes to downloading tracks and albums to keep or use across devices (including media centers, etc), I highly encourage you to Shop at the iTunes Music Store
and Amazon MP3 Store
NOTE: One thing I recommend to anyone that starts building a library of music and videos on their computer is to use an Online Backup service to keep it safe. Most of the music stores will not let you download your purchased files in the event your computer crashes.
What is your music store of choice? Are you a Zune Marketplace, iTunes, Amazon, etc user? Let us know what your experience has been! As always, if you have any questions or need clarification on any of this, feel free to Contact Me!
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