2007 Music Awards - Amazon MP3

The next category in Stuart’s 2007 Music Awards is the Best thing to Happen to Music Since the 8-track. And the winner is… The Amazon MP3 online music store.

Amazon MP3 is the first online music store that scores well in all three requirements: price, selection, and ease of use. Most tracks are 89 or 99 cents and albums are generally less than $10. Amazon MP3 has over 2 million songs with a mix of both mainstream and independent artists. The songs are reasonably-high-quality MP3 files so they will play on virtually any digital music device (even a Zune). Individual tracks are downloaded directly from the website.

The most significant disadvantage is that buying full albums (with the discount) requires a (small) downloader application that is not currently available for Linux. This is a big disappointment particularly as there is no technical reason they couldn’t allow you to download the tracks individually and still get the album price. The only work-around I’ve been able to figure out involves contacting customer service every time you buy and album so it isn’t really practical. Amazon says that a Linux version is coming soon.

I still like eMusic.com for independent music, I just wish we could remember to use our download credits each month. It is nice to have another option as well.