Thursday, January 10, 2013

In Praise Of Amazon Cloud Player

It's very rare that a big company gets something right in regards to digital content... As one who's very outspoken about that, I thought I'd bite my tongue for a second. Amazon has just announced their 'Auto-Rip' service, where your CD purchases are automatically added to your Amazon Cloud Player for downloading or playing through the browser or mobile app. **UPDATE** as of April 3 this now includes vinyl purchases! What's more, is that past purchases from the last 15 years are added in as well! It's refreshing that they did not feel the need to cripple the service with some sort of restrictive DRM, which would essentially render the entire thing useless.

I received this email from Amazon:
You may have noticed that songs from 45 CDs you have purchased from Amazon were added to your Cloud Player library. This means that high-quality MP3 versions of these songs are available for you to play or download from Cloud Player for FREE. You can find your songs in the "Purchased" playlist...

In addition, we're excited to announce AutoRip. Now when you buy any CD with the logo, all songs from the MP3 version of that album will instantly be delivered to your Amazon Cloud Player library for FREE. 

Check it out:






I tested this out on my way home from work. It went extremely well. To be clear, one can also actually download the .mp3 files to save. Other than buying from my local record store Double Decker Records, directly from bands/indie labels, & discogs, I have bought a lot from Amazon. I personally prefer physical product when buying my music, I feel it is part of the experience that you pay for. As someone who travels a lot, who does not have a lot of storage on his iPhone, but does have an unlimited data plan, this new Amazon service is like having my cake and eating it too. $20+ CD prices were an aberration in the music industry that will never happen again, despite the ambitious big label lobbyists. Hell, even the current Amazon prices of around $12-$16 are a bit high, but sometimes you just want that perfect, shrink-wrapped new CD. I have to admit, the convenience of having this Cloud Player Library at my fingertips will make me want to continue to be an Amazon CD customer when I am not looking to buy the album on vinyl.

Appropriately, Timothy B. Lee of Ars Technica writes,

"AutoRip represents a sea change in their attitudes toward cloud music services. Until the last couple of years, the labels were relentlessly hostile to the idea that consumers should have the freedom to store DRM-free music online."
Kudos to Amazon for their attempt to boost sales by actually adding value, by giving me a way to have more freedom and control to listen to my music any time conveniently, rather than raising prices or trying to restrict how I use my content or devices.

It seems companies are starting to take notice that we want more flexibility, and that the internet is something that should be embraced as a tool to allow us to create more with existing media we enjoy, so that things can move ahead and go full circle. Another great example of a company with this ideology would be Bandcamp, which offers a pay-what-you-want model, so you can donate to your local bands, or just in general feel good about your contribution to the musicians. A new feature even allows you to create a profile with your account, giving you a nice interface to display and enjoy your purchases in one place. Again, this is something that encourages sales in a positive way. Furthermore, there is a social aspect where you can connect with other users that have similar tastes, talk about why you like your albums, follow band's releases, and you're even represented as a supporter on the artist's page. I'd venture to say that these connections have much more potential benefits for the future of music than just profits...
While we're on the subject of digital music, you should check out Mediamonkey for organizing and playing your music. The outdated and resource hogging iTunes is a necessary evil for your iPhone updates only. Superior to iTunes for digital music enthusiasts, Mediamonkey has auto file-monitor for any and all folders of your choosing, and has advanced, automated organization macros to make properly tagging files a snap...

S.H.S. has taught you much today, technological neophytes.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment