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.

I’m already a fan of Amazon MP3. And considering Rhapsody is slightly more expensive (in line with iTunes at $.99 per song and $10 per album), I need something to justify that difference. Switching music download services is easy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need a reason. Rhapsody’s answer: full song previews. The only catch is that this is limited to 25 full previews per month.

The other area where Rhapsody might be better is in its interface. It’s too early for me to tell, but I can say that it wouldn’t take much to beat Amazon MP3. Amazon’s interface isn’t horrible, but Rhapsody’s could easily be better. Other than that, the free album promotion going on right now is probably the most pressing reason to give Rhapsody a try.

Again, it’s too early to tell if these reasons will be enough to make me switch on a more permanent basis, but Amazon definitely has a worthy competitor for music shoppers interested in content from the big four labels. Whatever the case, Rhapsody is yet another reason to avoid iTunes’ premium priced restricted music.

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):

Greetings from Amazon MP3,

As you have previously purchased music from Amazon MP3, we would like to ask for your participation in a short, anonymous survey. The survey asks about your music-related preferences and experiences with Amazon MP3, and should take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Your feedback is very important to us as we continue to enhance Amazon MP3 to better serve customer needs and interests.

The survey is active for a limited time only, so please respond as soon as possible. Just click the link below to begin. As our surveys are hosted by an external company, the link below does not lead to the Amazon.com site. Your information will be kept secure and confidential, and your name will not be associated with your answers. If the link is not active, or if you have concerns about authenticity and security, please type the Web address into your browser’s address bar.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/xxxxxxx

Thank you for taking the time to help improve Amazon MP3, and we appreciate your support!

Sincerely,
The Amazon MP3 Team

Here are some of the questions asked (I bolded my answers):

Why would you choose to buy digital music instead of a CD? (please pick your top reason)

To have the music immediately after purchase
Lower price
Can easily transfer to my MP3 player
Can buy individual songs, not the full album
Other (please specify):

It was difficult for me to specify just one reason for buying digital music, but I think “easy transfer to my MP3 player” has to be the top reason. I don’t listen to CDs anymore, so any purchase of a CD results in an extra step for me before I can listen to my newly purchased music. But some of the other reasons are just about as compelling.

How would you best describe your music discovery and purchasing habits with regards to Amazon MP3?

Discover and buy on Amazon MP3
Discover on Amazon MP3, buy elsewhere
Discover elsewhere, buy on Amazon MP3
Discover and buy elsewhere

Amazon’s site in general is way too busy. I have a hard time browsing on it even if I end up making purchases there after researching/discovering elsewhere.

Which technology-oriented websites do you regularly visit?

Techcrunch
Slashdot
Gizmodo
Boing Boing
Engadget
Wired News
CNET
I do not regularly visit technology-oriented websites
Other (please specify):

I visit all the sites listed but probably TechCrunch the most. Oh, and I couldn’t help but write in “TechConsumer” in the “Other” section…

Which social networking websites are you an active member of?

MySpace
Windows Live Spaces
Facebook
Friendster
LinkedIn
Classmates
I am not an active member of social networking websites
Other (please specify):

Amazon may have made a mistake by not defining “active” for this question. The two I selected I visit maybe weekly. But that’s much different usage than those that use them every hour.

Which following statements best describes your level of familiarity with MP3s?

I could describe its advantages and disadvantages
I could describe what it generally refers to
I am not familiar with the term

I’m pretty sure Amazon is hoping that few people will answer this question like I did. They are hoping to validate that MP3 is “good enough” for the masses even if plenty of better music formats exist.

Indicate the #1, #2 and #3 attributes you value most about Amazon MP3 (from the list):

MP3 downloads that play on any device (#3)
Music recommendations
Automatic import to my music library (#2)
Reliability of Amazon in general
Digital rights management-free (DRM-free) music (#1)
Offers the music I want
Ability to use my Amazon account
Low prices
One-click purchasing
Other (please specify attribute and rank):

Another tough decision, I like all the things listed above. But, first and foremost, I have to own my music (no DRM) and need its use to be as easy as possible (my #2 and #3 choices).

Is there anything you would like to see added or improved on Amazon MP3?

Why can’t I add Amazon MP3 items (single tracks or albums) to my Wishlist? As it stands, I have to use CDs for the Wishlist, which is kind of annoying.

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke decided to open up a little on the band’s “pay what you want” experiment from last year:

“I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation… It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time.”

Translation: “We didn’t make as much as we are hoping, and it would only be less if we used that model again.”

Incidentally, Radiohead never did reveal sales figures from its experiment and even responded to a third party study (calling the results false). In contrast, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor was willing to share details on his success story. The digital version of the album Ghosts I-IV was offered for free while there was a charge for premium versions. Reznor said last month that the album had generated nearly 800,000 transactions and $1.6 million. And he had some interesting thoughts on the Radiohead experiment:

“I think the way (Radiohead) parlayed it into a marketing gimmick has certainly been shrewd… But if you look at what they did, it was very much a bait and switch, to get you to pay for a MySpace quality stream as a way to promote a very traditional record sale.”

Radiohead’s album is now on Amazon for $9.99 (or $8.90 for the download version, which is a higher quality version than what Radiohead gave away). Meanwhile, Reznor released a new NIN song for free and Cold Play released a free download ahead of their album release (which took down their website temporarily).

Free isn’t dead yet. And it’s not the only way. Check out “How To: Get Consumers to Buy CDs Instead of MP3s.”

Note: This article is cross-posted at BobCaswell.com.

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.

What I realized is that I own all five of their albums in CD format, and that I made all of these purchases in the last two years (during which time I bought almost no CDs, as I’m more into downloading music). So why did I buy these albums as CDs rather than MP3s?

Simple. Their most recent two albums each come with a live concert on DVD. So I could buy the MP3s via Amazon for $8.99. Or I could get the CD/DVD set for $12.99. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but getting a DVD included for $4 made my brain automatically pick buying the CDs.

As for the other three earlier albums, well, they aren’t as easily available in downloadable form. And once I am “converted” enough to a band, I have no problem buying their CDs. But the key here is that the DVD bundling sold me as a CD buyer in the first place.

Now, on the back end, I have no idea how much it costs to make stuff like this happen. And I’m not about to claim that it’s automatically worth it for all bands to do this. But while Radiohead gets buzz for experimenting with new forms of distribution, I thought I should mention a perhaps overlooked old school method of getting at least me interested in buying music.

Of course, you could argue that DVDs are going away too and will soon be replaced by digital content. But even if that’s the case, it’s at a much slower pace than the same transition happening in music. So, at the very least, I think CD/DVD combos could at least slow down the CD’s death while the industry figures out what to do.

But is this just me? Does anyone else fall for CD purchases when DVDs are included?

Note: This article is cross-posted at BobCaswell.com.

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.

As a result, we have sites like CNET asking this question: “The big question now is whether Amazon can continue to grow without snatching away customers from Apple.”

Not that this study isn’t likely to be accurate, but I have to wonder, who are these people that are using Amazon MP3 without having shopped on iTunes previously? Remember when Amazon MP3 was originally released? I can’t think of any press coverage that didn’t compare and contrast it with iTunes.

I mean, it’s an easy comparison. Why wouldn’t you switch? Amazon MP3 is DRM-free, cheaper, high quality, and has no switching costs (seamlessly integrates with iTunes).

That was enough to get me to switch. But apparently iTunes (which I still use, by the way) has something as part of its shopping experience that justifies restricted, more expensive music.

Ars Technica has the scoop on a “new” study which shows how Apple’s iTunes is “widening its lead in the digital music market at the expense of other top brands.” The name of the article, in fact, is Competition unable to take a big bite out of Apple’s iTunes. The article could be interesting, what with its data, charts, and supposed analysis. But it has one major problem that invalidates most everything said:

The study relies on data from the first half of 2007. Amazon MP3 didn’t exist way back then, and Ars Technica completely ignores the fact that it exists now. Here are some current quotes (all from the past week) that shed some new light on just how “unable” the competition is because of the “widening” iTunes market share:

Chicago Sun-Times on Amazon MP3:

“Yes, dear readers, if I had an Apple tattoo, the ink would bleed out of my skin in disgust. I use iTunes to browse, sample, and choose music I want to purchase . . . and then I tab over to my Web browser and I buy it DRM-free from Amazon MP3.”

USA Today on Amazon MP3:

“Amazon’s MP3 store – which sells only songs without copy protection – has quietly become No. 2 in digital sales since opening nearly six months ago, say the four major labels. That’s even though Apple dominates digital music with its iTunes Store…”

Orson Scott Card (acclaimed science fiction author) on Amazon MP3:

“I also have to say that Amazon’s download service is smooth as silk. And, unlike iTunes, it saves the files as .mp3s rather than a proprietary iTunes file format. That means that any .mp3 player can use them. With iTunes, you have to burn a CD first, then rip that CD into .mp3s using other software. Amazon therefore works a lot better for me.”

My own stance hasn’t changed much since Amazon released its MP3 download service. Like the title of my original review said, Amazon MP3 gets it right: cheaper, DRM-free, higher quality, and no switching costs.

Amazon today has announced plans to take its DRM-free MP3 music store to countries beyond the United States. In the U.S., at least, Amazon MP3 is already the online music store of choice.

It’s hard to compete with the largest library (3.3 million songs from 270,000 artists) of restriction free music, much of which is priced lower than the going rate of $0.99/track. And it integrates seamlessly with iTunes (or other desktop music applications) plus works with pretty much any digital music player available.

This announcement comes just days after rumors of Yahoo considering opening an online music store, though Amazon has set the bar fairly high. At this point, any competition (including Apple) has to play catch up before I’d consider switching again.

For those curious as to which countries this might mean… Well, the press release doesn’t say explicitly. But reading between the lines of the last sentence (”The company is not disclosing a specific launch timeline for individual Amazon international websites”), the new offering is likely to be for those countries which already have their own separate Amazon website, namely: Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China, and Japan.

See Amazon’s press release below:

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 27, 2008–Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that in 2008 the company will begin an international rollout of Amazon MP3, Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 digital music store where every song is playable on virtually any digital music-capable device, including the PC, Mac(R), iPod(R), Zune(R), Zen(R), iPhone(TM), RAZR(TM), and BlackBerry(R). Amazon MP3 is the only retailer to offer customers DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as over 33,000 independent labels.

“We have received thousands of e-mails from Amazon customers around the world asking us when we will make Amazon MP3 available outside of the U.S. They can’t wait to choose from the biggest selection of high-quality, low-priced DRM-free MP3 music downloads which play on virtually any music device they own today or will own in the future,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President of Digital Music. “We are excited to tell those customers today that Amazon MP3 is going international this year.”

Launched on Amazon.com in September 2007, Amazon MP3 offers Earth’s Biggest Selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 3.3 million songs from more than 270,000 artists. Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software and is encoded at 256 kbps to deliver high audio quality. Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device; organize their music using any music management application, such as iTunes(R) or Windows Media Player(TM); and burn songs to CDs for personal use.

Most songs available on Amazon MP3 are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the over 3.3 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 bestselling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 bestselling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise. Buying and downloading MP3s from Amazon MP3 is easy. Customers can purchase downloads using Amazon 1-Click shopping, and with the Amazon MP3 Downloader, seamlessly add their MP3s to their iTunes(R) or Windows Media Player(TM) libraries.

The company is not disclosing a specific launch timeline for individual Amazon international websites.

Just a few days after our coverage of DRM-free music options for 2008 comes news of Sony BMG now offering its music on Amazon restriction-free. Sony BMG represents artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Santana, and Justin Timberlake. And this makes Amazon the first online music store to offer DRM-free songs from all four major labels: Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and Universal Music.

Sony has uploaded around 200,000 tracks to Amazon so far (the most actively purchased music), but the company’s entire catalog apparently will be uploaded over time. I reviewed Amazon MP3 when it first came out and switched to it from iTunes as my preference for buying music online.

Amazon MP3 is better (for me, at least) for the following reasons: it’s cheaper ($0.89/track), it’s all DRM-Free, it’s higher quality (256 kbps), it’s more accessible (MP3), and there are no switching costs (integrates seamlessly with iTunes). If you haven’t already, check out Amazon MP3 here.

See Amazon’s press release below:

SEATTLE–January 10, 2008–Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that DRM-free MP3 music downloads from SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT will be available to customers on Amazon MP3, Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 digital music store where every song is playable on virtually any digital music-capable device, including PCs, Macs®, iPod®, Zune®, Zen®, iPhone™, RAZR™ and BlackBerry®. When SONY BMG is added later this month, Amazon MP3 will be the only retailer to offer customers DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels, as well as over 33,000 independent labels. Amazon MP3 customers will discover DRM-free MP3s from SONY BMG’s vast rosters of artists representing virtually every genre of music.

“We are excited to offer Amazon MP3 customers DRM-free MP3s from SONY BMG, which represents many of the most popular musicians from the past and present,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music. “Our Amazon MP3 customers will be able to choose from a full selection of DRM-free music downloads from all four major labels and over 33,000 independents that they can play on virtually any music-capable device.”

“We are excited to be working with Amazon as they continue to build new markets for digital music,” commented Thomas Hesse, President, Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. “We are constantly exploring new ways of making our music available to consumers in the physical space, over the internet and through mobile phones, and this initiative is the newest element of our ongoing campaign to bring our music to fans wherever they happen to be.”

Launched in September 2007, Amazon MP3 offers Earth’s Biggest Selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 3.1 million songs from more than 270,000 artists. Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software and is encoded at 256 Kbps to deliver high audio quality. Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, including PCs, Macs®, iPod®, Zune®, Zen®, iPhone™, RAZR™ and BlackBerry®; organize their music using any music management application such as iTunes® or Windows Media Player™; and burn songs to CDs for personal use.

Most songs available on Amazon MP3 are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the over 3.1 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 bestselling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 bestselling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise. Buying and downloading MP3s from Amazon MP3 is easy. Customers can purchase downloads using Amazon 1-Click shopping, and with the Amazon MP3 Downloader, seamlessly add their MP3s to their iTunes® or Windows Media Player™ libraries.

Today I thought I’d point out some of the best most recent compilation lists:

Download Squad explains its picks for the top 5 most annoying programs, which are the following:

1. Acrobat Reader
2. iTunes
3. Real Player
4. Internet Explorer
5. Microsoft Outlook

The reasons for being annoying are spot on with bloated, slow, resource hogging, and nagging as the main culprits. Luckily, there are alternatives to each of these (such as FoxIt Reader instead of Adobe Reader or Firefox instead of Internet Explorer) even if most on the list also happen to be fairly dominant in their respective fields.

One piece of software conspicuously missing, but nevertheless fairly annoying, is Norton AntiVirus. The most well known and used antivirus software is often credited as being the most bloated while offering mediocre protection.

Meanwhile, Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch lists the Web 2.0 companies he simply can’t live without. His list (in no particular order) is the following:

1. 1-800-Free-411
2. Amazon Music
3. Amie Street
4. Delicious
5. Digg
6. Facebook
7. Firefox
8. Flickr
9. Gmail
10. Google Reader
11. Netvibes
12. Skype
13. Techmeme
14. Technorati
15. TripIt
16. Twitter
17. WordPress
18. YouTube
19. Zoho

Of the 19 listed, I give the following my own “can’t live without” status: Amazon Music, Digg (though this one is debatable), Firefox, Gmail, Google Reader, Techmeme, and WordPress. If you are at all into downloading music, finding content online, browsing online, sending emails, using RSS, reading news, and blogging, it’s hard to miss any of these. I’d also add to my list Netflix, LogMeIn (for remote control of your computers), RottenTomatoes (aggregator of movie reviews), and Mozy (online data backup).

What are your most annoying or “can’t live without” programs/companies?

This makes Amazon’s MP3 download store the first to offer DRM-free music from Warner Music and brings Amazon’s library up to 2.9 million songs, all without restrictions. And Warner’s catalog includes some of the most popular artists: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Madonna, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.

I reviewed Amazon MP3 when it first came out and switched to it from iTunes as my primary method of buying music. In short, Amazon MP3 works well for me when compared to the competition: it’s cheaper ($0.89/track), it’s all DRM-Free, it’s higher quality (256 kbps), it’s more accessible (MP3), and there are no switching costs (integrates seamlessly with iTunes). If you haven’t already, check out Amazon MP3 here.

Here are the PR quotes from the two companies:

“Our customers are delighted with our DRM-free MP3 service. We have received thousands of emails from our customers since our September launch thanking us for offering the biggest selection of high-quality MP3 audio downloads which play on virtually any music device they own today or will own in the future,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President of Digital Music. “With the addition of great Warner Music Group content, our customers will discover even more of the music they love on Amazon MP3.”

“Consumers want flexibility with respect to what they can do with music once they purchase it, and we want them to have that flexibility, which is why we’re pleased to offer our artists’ music on Amazon MP3,” said Michael Nash, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group. “We believe that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music. Amazon shares our vision with respect to offering feature-rich music based digital products, and we look forward to making available an array of exciting new digital products over time that will transform the relationship between and among consumers, labels and artists.”