Is Amazon Working On A DRM-Free Music Download Store?

Rumors, Conspiracies, etc.

from the recognizing-apple's-achilles-heel dept

I remember conversations from as far back as 1998 about whether or not Amazon.com should offer a downloadable music store — but the company has always been cautious despite plenty of rumors. Way back in 2003, there were rumors that the company would team up with Apple to somehow offer iTunes songs through Amazon.com — a rumor that failed to pan out. Earlier this year, there were rumors that Amazon was talking to record labels about, once again, trying to launch its own music download store, perhaps with its own hardware as well (suggesting someone confused the offering with Microsoft’s ill-fated Zune product). However, this summer it was reported that Amazon had decided that it wasn’t worth competing with Apple in music downloads, given how strong Apple’s position in the market has been.

However, perhaps recent revelations have opened Amazon’s eyes to Apple’s big achilles heel: the copy protection they use. The record labels, for all their obsession over copy protection, know that Apple’s use of copy protection has given the company tremendous leverage over them in negotiations over pricing for digital downloads. They’ve also just started to understand that there’s value in selling unprotected MP3s. With all that in mind, the latest rumor (as submitted by John) is that Amazon is back on the negotiating trail, pitching the record labels on a DRM-free music download store. If they’re smart, they’d be pitching it as a way to break Apple’s stranglehold on the market — but given how most of the other Amazon music download store rumors have panned out, we’re not holding our breath. However, the rumor also notes that Amazon is supposedly offering variable pricing on songs — something that the record labels have been pushing for (unsuccessfully) for years with Apple. So, perhaps it’s a bit of horse trading: Amazon gives the labels variable pricing, if they agree to give up copy protection. Still, after seeing just how awful Amazon’s foray into video downloads has been, you’d have to hope that they would only use that experience to learn what not to do with any new offering.