I suppose sometimes in order take a step forward, it’s important to take a step back. Amazon is a good example of this, as they are changing some of their packaging from the over-done plastic wrap, with boxing, to a simple plain cardboard box. The new boxing will simply have Amazon’s name, combined with the retailer’s name printed on it. This is all part of an initiative Amazon has launched in working with its retailers to cut down on packaging.

While Amazon has taken a step in the right direction, it’s not as strong as a move as one might think. Amazon has started this new initiatve with only nineteen products being offered in the new packaging. Also, only the US will receive those nineteen immediately, with the rest of the world waiting until 2009. Unfortunately, part of me wonders if this is more of a PR trick than a true wish to help our Earth, but I suppose any move in a more eco-friendly direction should be applauded.

                                                    
Today’s big announcement comes from Rhapsody, the online music service previously known for its subscription-based streaming music for a monthly fee. Well, turns out people are more interested in owning their music rather than renting. So now we have another major competitor for iTunes and Amazon MP3.

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A revolution is easy to spot when looking backward, but they are much harder to see when they first happen. Microsoft, Apple, eBay, Amazon…all revolutions with ramifications that weren’t seen until much after they first released a product, or came online.

But I predict a revolution in an event that took place just a few days ago at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where Steve Jobs announced the latest version of the iPhone. I know, I know, you’re thinking that I missed the boat. The iPhone revolution already took place; this is old news.

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There’s an interesting article over at ZDNet UK. The idea is that people don’t need to go to a search engine to find what they need. If they want a review of a product, they will go to Amazon or CNET. If they want to find out about a place or person, they will head straight to Wikipedia. If they want something funny or interesting, they’ll got to YouTube or Digg.

I find myself doing this. Instead of going to Google (that will return 6 million pages), I will often head straight to Wikipedia. I’m not saying I don’t use Google, but I am finding that I use it less. If I’m looking for a review of a product, Google is simply unusable. Instead, I’ll go to any number of sites that I have found useful (and bookmarked), to find that information.

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An Amazon promotion good through June 9 has over 100 Blu-ray movies in the $14 to $20 range (with many around $14-$15). I thought this would be a good time to revisit getting into Blu-ray. The last time I checked out Blu-ray pricing on Amazon (my quick and dirty benchmark), the Playstation 3 was still the best deal.

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Buxr is a site that aggregates shopping deals automatically via its own Internet-scouring technology while at the same time incentivizing community members to submit deals they find via daily and monthly competitions.

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It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Amazon MP3, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. And I’m glad the Amazon MP3 team doesn’t think so either. Here’s a copy of an email I received from them asking me to fill out a survey. Check out some of the more interesting questions asked followed by commentary (after text of the email below):

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I may be alone on this one, but I just noticed a small pattern in my CD shopping habits. Here’s an example:

Over the past couple years, I’ve come to love music from the band Muse. British rockers with some serious talent, they have a great sound that is a mix of britpop, rock, alternative, and electronica.

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So I had an extra $50 that Amazon gave me for buying an HD DVD player and was interested in getting a new mouse for my computer. For my day-to-day computing needs, I’m a laptop user all the way (and have been since 2001) but still prefer a mouse attached over a touchpad. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t help but try out Logitech’s VX Nano cordless mouse.

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Market research firm NPD Group issued a report today explaining that Amazon MP3 is growing but not taking away customers from Apple’s iTunes. It seems that only 10% of Amazon MP3 shoppers in February were iTunes shoppers previously.

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