Cheers
Sam
Windows2Apples

Perhaps the iPod generation will quickly reach a point where a lowly sampling rate of 64 K will do the trick. I do believe for most that MP3 sample rates over 192K have little impact on the listening experience. I do find a discernible difference between players with my two Creative Lab players out shining the iPod hands down.

Sam
Windows2Apples

I have never purchased DRM protected music preferring instead to rent tunes via Rhapsody, rip from purchased CDs or download legally from sources such as eMusic. I don’t see how folks are able to see music ‘purchased from iTunes’ as theirs to have and hold forever. It is dependent on an Apple player.

Hopefully, Amazon will continue to gain in market share and insure this crazy iTunes lock down becomes ancient history and soon.

Dude, I’m a filmmaker and audio professional. Compression algorithm is just as important as bitrate. Don’t throw your uneducated opinion in my face. I work with this stuff every day.

That codec is definitely in par with AAC at the same bitrate (as far as my ears has been able to tell me).

I might suggest you do the same. This fallacy has been pretty thoroughly debunked. Don’t buy the marketing hype. The reality is the higher the bitrate, the higher the overall quality of the final file, no matter which codec you’re using. More data is always better than less data.

Nope. To spur true competition you need a level playing field. The record labels are just hindering the market leader and thus the market development.

Your claim that the Amazon MP3 store has a “much better selection” is mathematically and patently false. The Amazon store debuted, about 6 months ago, with 2,000,000 songs. Even if they’ve added a million songs since (which is highly doubtful), that would be 3,000,000 songs — only *half* of iTunes’ 6,000,000+.

Perhaps Amazon has more of the music that *you* like, but that’s not what you said.

I buy from both. I always check iTunes, first, then Amazon. And 8 times out of 10, I find that Amazon does *not* have the artist(s) or song(s) for which I’m looking. And I don’t mean obscure, indie stuff; I’ve searched across a good cross-section of genres, as well as a balance of current and classic music.

Amazon will improve, of course. But to say, today, that Amazon has a “much better selection” is simply a mathematical impossibility.

But when I wanted a single track from a special album, iTunes didn’t have it. I ended up buying it from Amazon MP3 because they had it, had it for cheaper than other places, and the quality was great. I’m starting to like Amazon MP3 better because they’re steadily increasing their selection, and their stuff is DRM-free BY DEFAULT– iTunes doesn’t even seem to mark what’s DRM-free or not anymore, now that iTunes Plus isn’t a separate program.

I use Amazon for three reasons:

1. DRM-free means the freedom to use my files anywhere, on any mp3 player, in any way I want.
2. Higher quality (at least bit rate wise) is always a good thing.
3. MP3s are more common and playable on all MP3 players. (That’s why they’re called MP3 players)

However, I think that iTunes does have a more matured, integrated, and easy-to-use interface. But Amazon is the winner for now. It makes me feel future-proof. Like, if I get a new computer of for some reason get a different mp3 player, my music is all good.

I got it right, though I don’t think guessing counts. I was surprised at how similar the two sounded.

To spur competition. iTunes is already the top music retailer, so in order to give someone else a chance and avoid being trapped into another Apple monopoly, they’re giving another retailer special privileges.

Maybe, if you’re comparing AAC to an MP3 made with the old Xing encoder, but Amazon’s MP3s are high quality VBR MP3s made with the LAME encoder.

Just because AAC is “technically” superior to MP3 on paper doesn’t mean AAC files actually sound any better.

1. All Amazon tracks are DRM-free. iTunes has a bunch of iTunes Plus offerings, but many albums and tracks are still DRM.

2. You get MP3 format with Amazon. Your stuff will pretty much play on any device, unlike AAC format which requires conversion for some devices. Highly annoying.

By the way, John, not sure what you bought from AmazonMP3.com, but everything I’ve purchased so far has ID3 tags on it. I bought NIN’s latest album and all tags are there. Not sure what you’re talking about.

1. you DO NOT need to install the amazon downloader to download the mp3s. It can save to your desktop like any files downloaded from the net.

2. Apple’s 128kbps AAC tracks generally are better quality due to algorithm vs. 256kbps mp3.

3. amazon’s mp3s do not have any identifying tags on them unlike apple’s drm free music.

@Gideon: I didn’t know about the ability to re-download from Amazon–yet another reason to love ‘em!

@Daneil Nass: Enough has changed in the online music landscape and with the Amazon Music Store to warrant a follow up article. I am constantly surprised how many people don’t even know that Amazon sells MP3 downloads.