AmazonMP3 gets it right: Sell us high-quality MP3s, not protected files..

Amazon unveiled their new “amazonmp3” service a short while ago, and it instantly replaced iTunes as my provider for purchasing legal music. Bye bye, iTunes, with your DRM/protection. Yes, I know Apple sells “unprotected” files via their store, but you’re paying more for that. At AmazonMP3, you’re not. Most tracks are .99 or .89, which is fine by me.

If you don’t understand what I’m saying.. If you purchase music through iTunes, just plain ‘ol .99 cent tracks, you’re paying for a track that is “protected” and locked to only work with iTunes and iPods. You can’t using the music in Windows Media Player, or any non-iPod digital audio players (well, you can, if you burn a CD, then re-import it, but that results in a loss of quality, and who has the time?!) — Apple is basically limiting what you can do with music you _own_.

Anyways, Amazon has a little downloader program too to help automatically download tracks you purchased and stick them into Windows Media Player or iTunes for you automatically.

If you like paying for music, head over to Amazon’s site and start browsing. They’ve got over two million songs. And the sound quality is great. Amazon says they’re 256kbps, but some of the tracks I’ve downloaded are actually VBR MP3s, encoded with Lame 3.97, using the profile “MP3 VBR V0”. If you ask the guys over at Hydrogen Audio, they’ll tell you those settings are awesome.