“What’s that? Amazon opened a music store? Oh, OK. (Resumes snoring),” Time Beyers writes for The Motley Fool.
“Nine of the 10 best-selling MP3 players at Amazon are iPods. That’s why you’re not seeing Jeff Bezos chatting up alternatives from SanDisk or nearby Microsoft,” Beyers writes.
“Chances are those tracks will be downloaded into one of the 110 million or so iPods out there today,” Beyers writes. “Bezos knows that; he’s no moron. And he knows that Apple doesn’t need him for distribution. Would CEO Steve Jobs pull the iPod from Amazon’s digital shelves? Probably not, but it’s enough to know that he could.”
“More than 3 billion songs have been sold via the iTunes store. Assuming Apple retains no more than $0.05 to $0.10 per song, that’s roughly $150 million to $300 million in revenue over four-and-a-half years of sales,” Beyers writes. “By contrast, the iEmpire [Apple] collected more than $22.6 billion in revenue over the trailing 12 months alone.”
Beyers writes, “So let’s take Amazon’s $0.89-a-song-strategery for what it is: great for consumers. And anything but bad for Apple.”
More in the full article, including four of Apple’s primary advantages when it comes to the iPod, here.
Besides the prices difference Apple does not sell MP3’s. They have from the very beginning been using the AAC codec which is .m4a. I am quite picky about my sound considering the massive system in my car. I will never run an MP3 through a 1500watt stereo system. The AAC codec does half the file size for the same quality MP3. A 128kbps is the same quality as a 256kbps MP3. And for anyone who is going to say there is no difference. Run it through a massive and clean stereo setup. The bass line on an MP3 is crap and can kill your subs. The encoding on the .m4a is much better and retains the bass line from a CD, I have played both a CD and the .m4a file at competitions and no one can tell the difference. The tracks are higher quality, they might be higher priced, but you know what. When I can show off a stereo system running off of an iPod and not a CD, I will stick with higher quality, and the only true player that plays all open standards. And .m4a is a standard file that any music vendor could go with. MS should fire the person that came up with wma as I have never encountered a worse format than this, except for maybe the atrac format, ugh Sony. I have also tried the Amazon browsing interface, and quite frankly it sucks something fierce, sorry. I have to give kduos to Apple, they will reign supreme for just a bit longer I beleive
Sorry mean Kudos not kduos, and wow First post ever, go me!!!
Of course it’s not bad for Apple. But that’s not the point. Amazon’s site is terrible news for consumers because, if successful, it allows the record companies to regain control over pricing. Pay 89 cents instead of 99 cents now and you will pay a lot more later on for album bundling and variable pricing. Record companies control competition in distribution, and with Amazon watermarking, they will try to shut down the real competition of file sharing.
the FOOL nailed it!!
Amazon may help get Europe off Apple’s back even though Amazon is not selling music in Europe. It demonstrates that the market is wide open.
On Amazon I’m seeing 10 out of the top 10 mp3 players are from Apple, and 16 out of the top 20. Not too shabby.
More in the full article, including four of Apple’s primary advantages when it comes to the iPod, here.
Are you kidding me? The iPod has advantages over other MP3 players? Don’t waste your time clicking on that link. My 3-year old Dell Ditty runs circles around the latest iPods. And as far as Amazon’s new MP3 store goes it’s a bust already. Why? No WMA files. Zunes, Dittys, Zens, Sansas all can play the magnificent WMA format. WMA is better because Microsoft developed it with the same attention to detail and care that they put into Windows. And Office. MP3 is a lost cause when the future is WMA. Whatever.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Actually, on their “bestselling” list, I’m now seeing eight out of the top 10, and 15 out of the top 20 are iPods. Not too shabby.
@Zune Tang
HAHAHAHAHA, you have a Dell Ditty??? HAHAHAHA you really did get suckered into that piece… When they named it Ditty that was the death of it right there. HAHAHAHAHA I can’t help but laugh…
@Zune Tang
By the way WMA is the worst format for anything, you really did get suckered
You’re a pretentious dweeb
HAHAHAHAHAHA
You take satire at face value
HAHAHAHAHAHA
We’re all enthralled by your car stereo: NOT!
HAHAHAHAHA
Have a great evening with the palm sisters
HAHAHAHAHA
However – Amazon is not secure at all, and you can purchase from Europe as well. Which for UK customers makes the tracks nearly half the price of iTunes. Even using a European credit card. all you need to do is change your billing address to any random US ZIP code and off you go, no further questions asked.
Doesn’t work that easily with Apple.
Wow, a pretentious Dweeb, that a new one, and if you knew Satire, you would realize the first comment is about quality. The second comment is Satire, and the third comment about WMA is fact. Go back to school and learn something, Anything, it would make you not look like a Dweeb.
If I ever meet Michael Dell, I’m going to refer to him as D-Ditty.
@ MacTech84
Never mind the punters, your comments are appreciated.
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And just so you know, Zune Tang is out resident scarecrow, and his comments are to be taken with a rather large salt lick.
-c
@Chrissy One
Perfect!!! Simple, Short, and Sweet!!
“our” resident…
@ MacTech84
I’m actually very complex, and ridiculously tall.
Sweet..? Guilty.
@Chrissy one
That is awesome, complex and tall go hand in hand, and make for a very interesting person =)
…. and long legs… lol
There must be pics of your car on the web somewhere, if you show it, can we see?
Zune Tang is the alter-ego of ChrissyOne. The salt lick she refers to is dripping with gobs of satire.
Amazon MP3 store is only good for the consumer as long as prices are kept consistently low. I will continue to buy from iTunes Store.
@ Chrissy One
I wish there were some shots…. I mainly compete in mid range and they never take shots. I will have to take some personally and post them. Lets just say, when I got pulled over once, the cop was 3 cars behind me, and he was rather cool about the fact that I was causing his car to vibrate. That is the power of an iPod and clean sound.
What I told a columnist at CNET to do is write a column on who this really hurts – Redmond.
This is a major blow to M$, and shows just how little control they have left in the media industry. Their DRM license scheme to dominate is up in smoke. Amazon just put a stake through it, and Apple will eventually be able to get the labels to deliver DRM via iTunes as well.
Redmond’s only hope is to somehow put out digital handsets that are so amazingly awesome, no one and their dog will be able to resist them…
So case closed. Apple wins, and Amazon just helped the cause – big time.
@The Batman most on line site match up the credit card and billing address so unless your card has that random US address and zip code you’re still SOL and have to pay the going exchange rate which is always more favorable when paying by credit card.