AfterDawn: News

Amazon MP3 is having no effect on iTunes, says NPD

According to a new analysis by The NPD Group, Amazon's MP3 store is having little to no effect on the flourishing success of the iTunes store.

The study revealed that only a measly 10 percent of all Amazon MP3 users are iTunes converts and that the majority are new to direct digital downloads. NPD entertainment analyst Russ Crupnick feels that the report shows that the new stores don't necessarily draw customers away from the behemoth that is iTunes.



Amazon currently sits in fourth among all US music sales and "claims just a tenth of the sales volume at its online store," the study adds. Amazon is behind Best Buy, Wal-Mart and iTunes and will need to "significantly increase its digital sales rate to surpass the higher-ranked stores" reads the study.

Amazon has seen its store grow on a couple of chief principles. It sells some songs for cheaper (89 cents) than iTunes, all tracks are DRM-free, and the store can be accessed on any modern operating system.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Apr 2008 17:58

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• 19 comments

• snowlock

  too little, too late maybe?

  15.4.2008 19:28 #1

• ZippyDSM

  yeesh..amazon will need time to increase its library so it can I dunno fight Itunes on a simi equal playing filed...

  15.4.2008 20:11 #2

• def&blind

  .

  15.4.2008 21:13 #3

• Pop_Smith

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: yeesh..amazon will need time to increase its library so it can I dunno fight Itunes on a simi equal playing filed...Actually Amazon.com just needs to advertise more. They already have close to 4 .8 million available songs, over twice the amount of songs iTunes offers which is a reported 2 million.
  
  iTunes encodes their AAC-files at 256kbps, I am not sure if its "VBR" or not.
  
  On the other hand Amazon.com records their MP3s in VBR (for the most part) while aiming for an "average" of 256kbps according to their MP3 FAQ.
  
  Between the little bit better pricing and the bigger selection I would say its just a matter of the proper advertising to get them in a better spot.

  15.4.2008 21:34 #4

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: yeesh..amazon will need time to increase its library so it can I dunno fight Itunes on a simi equal playing filed...Actually Amazon.com just needs to advertise more. They already have close to 4 .8 million available songs, over twice the amount of songs iTunes offers which is a reported 2 million.
  
  iTunes encodes their AAC-files at 256kbps, I am not sure if its "VBR" or not.
  
  On the other hand Amazon.com records their MP3s in VBR (for the most part) while aiming for an "average" of 256kbps according to their MP3 FAQ.
  
  Between the little bit better pricing and the bigger selection I would say its just a matter of the proper advertising to get them in a better spot.
  well what I was getting at it needs more time to mature and advertise itself.
  
  oh wow they has some songs I been looking for
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XPT...8310003&sr=1-34
  
  
  Mmmmmmmm 9.99 a album dats not to bad, altho I still think 99 cents a song is 2X more than it should be

  15.4.2008 21:43 #5

• engage16

  I thought iTunes files were encoded at 128kbps?

  15.4.2008 23:03 #6

• duckNrun

  Nice to see DRM music files start to disappear but when it comes to the price and encoding selection....
  
  It's still allofmp3 for me

  15.4.2008 23:53 #7

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by duckNrun: Nice to see DRM music files start to disappear but when it comes to the price and encoding selection....
  
  It's still allofmp3 for meand because its a pirate outfit you'r better off getting it for free.....*rolls eyes*

  16.4.2008 00:02 #8

• pensfan12

  Thats really annoying! Finally a acceptable alternative yet people still stick to Apples DRM'ed crap.

  16.4.2008 02:09 #9

• ExogenBoy

  Exactly like I predicted, it's very hard to beat iTunes in the highly competed US e-music market, there would be much more room elsewhere. Amazon is probably the only company that could challenge iTunes as a global (or at least semi-global) e-music retailer, but they are still stuck to North America only. Not surprised, really, they have a good history of making bad business despite of huge potential.

  16.4.2008 02:21 #10

• engage16

  The thing you have to realize about people staying with apple are the two main catagories. The "Older" people who have iPods, they don't know what DRM is or are capable of learning how to download from other sources because their iTunes updates it themselves. And the second groups is the teen/ college croup who's parents pay for their iTunes accounts, they sit and download whatever and whenever they want...

  16.4.2008 11:09 #11

• BludRayne

  I believe aac is a better compression technology than the old mp3. So it both were 256kbps, the aac file would have better quality audio.

  16.4.2008 12:26 #12

• rosedog

  Blacked out dancing idiots have stuck in peoples heads. iphone/ipod/itunes=garbage
  
  Hi, my name is Rosedog and I've been ipod sober for 4yrs now.

  16.4.2008 12:29 #13

• DVDdoug

  Apple does have very good marketing. I can't think of any company in any busineess that has better marketing. (...McDonold's might be as good.) and their advertising budget is probably 100 times that of Amazon. But, good marketing is much more than just advertising.
  
  The iPod is the most popular portable-player... You buy an iPod, bring it home, install the software, and bingo!... You've got iTunes!
  
  And, their customers are vary loyal! Someone once said to me "Apple is like a cult." And, that was before the iPod... He was talking about Apple computer users.
  
  I am one of those Amazon customers who is "new to digital downloads". Mainly, I'm a CD customer. I always avoided iTunes because of the DRM. But, I have purchased a handful of downloads from Amazon. Now that iTunes is DRM-free, it's an issue of format. I'll choose MP3 over AAC because it's more universal. If someone starts offering lossless-DRM-free (in any format) I'll buy from that vendor.

  16.4.2008 14:54 #14

• duckNrun

  Quote:Originally posted by duckNrun: Nice to see DRM music files start to disappear but when it comes to the price and encoding selection....
  
  It's still allofmp3 for meand because its a pirate outfit you'r better off getting it for free.....*rolls eyes*Aww... come on Zippy!
  
  Is it piracy to go online and buy, say, a pair of shoes from a different country because in that economy a pair of shoes sell for $2 instead of $20?
  
  For instance, US clothes sold in the UK often just exchange the dollar sign for a pound sign. Is it piracy for a consumer to go out to the global economy created by the corporations and take advantage of the same economics that big business does?
  
  So then, is it OK for the corporations to outsource our jobs but not ok for me, you or whoever to outsource my/your/their purchases?
  
  Or perhaps it's ok for a conglomerate of businesses to form an organization whose sole purpose is to make more money and maintain media power and then they go off and label a sovereign country's laws as piracy? Does a country, let alone a company have the right to forcibly encode its beliefs into the copyright laws (or any laws) of a sovereign nation? The answer is yes but they have to do it the same way as they do it in most other countries: give bribes... ahem I mean contributions... to those in power who can change the laws to suit those businesses.
  
  I am not going to repeat the same facts I have so often repeated about allof but in short:
  
  1. The site is legal under Russian copyright law
  2. US copyright law allows the importation of copyrighted material legally purchased outside the states to be imported into the US for private, personal and non monetary purposes even if the item would violate the copyright laws in the US.
  3. This factoid is only valid for the US so if you are in the UK or the EU the purchasing of music from this site may be considered piracy. However that does not change the fact that in Russia the site is legal and does not participate in piracy
  
  
  **rolls eyes**
  
  ;-)

  18.4.2008 20:23 #15

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by duckNrun: Nice to see DRM music files start to disappear but when it comes to the price and encoding selection....
  
  It's still allofmp3 for meand because its a pirate outfit you'r better off getting it for free.....*rolls eyes*Aww... come on Zippy!
  
  Is it piracy to go online and buy, say, a pair of shoes from a different country because in that economy a pair of shoes sell for $2 instead of $20?
  
  For instance, US clothes sold in the UK often just exchange the dollar sign for a pound sign. Is it piracy for a consumer to go out to the global economy created by the corporations and take advantage of the same economics that big business does?
  
  So then, is it OK for the corporations to outsource our jobs but not ok for me, you or whoever to outsource my/your/their purchases?
  
  Or perhaps it's ok for a conglomerate of businesses to form an organization whose sole purpose is to make more money and maintain media power and then they go off and label a sovereign country's laws as piracy? Does a country, let alone a company have the right to forcibly encode its beliefs into the copyright laws (or any laws) of a sovereign nation? The answer is yes but they have to do it the same way as they do it in most other countries: give bribes... ahem I mean contributions... to those in power who can change the laws to suit those businesses.
  
  I am not going to repeat the same facts I have so often repeated about allof but in short:
  
  1. The site is legal under Russian copyright law
  2. US copyright law allows the importation of copyrighted material legally purchased outside the states to be imported into the US for private, personal and non monetary purposes even if the item would violate the copyright laws in the US.
  3. This factoid is only valid for the US so if you are in the UK or the EU the purchasing of music from this site may be considered piracy. However that does not change the fact that in Russia the site is legal and does not participate in piracy
  
  
  **rolls eyes**
  
  ;-)touch'e , I thought they got closed down lol

  18.4.2008 20:52 #16

• duckNrun

  Seems like the site might be offline, allofmp3.com gets redirected to their blogs and news.
  
  So oops. Please substitute AllTunes for Allofmp3. Same catalog, same everything, and they take mastercard.
  
  ;-)

  19.4.2008 08:43 #17

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by duckNrun: Seems like the site might be offline, allofmp3.com gets redirected to their blogs and news.
  
  So oops. Please substitute AllTunes for Allofmp3. Same catalog, same everything, and they take mastercard.
  
  ;-)I forgot and got them confused with another site, I wonder when the russain authority's will close it down under the banner of global trade,we must protect the world economy from the peasants!

  19.4.2008 13:43 #18

• hermes_vb

  I stopped buying from iTunes when I could no longer use Hymn to remove DRM. I'm starting to buy from Amazon now. The thing I don't like about Amazon is that the encoding is 256 VBR joint stereo. I prefer 256 CBR Stereo. If iTunes goes 256 DRM free and sells song for $0.99, I'll go back to them. AAC is better than MP3.

  19.4.2008 13:57 #19