Will a DRM-free Amazon music store be enough to topple iTunes?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 17 May 2007 18:10

Opinion and Analysis

But when it comes to iTunes, iPods and digital music, the iPod has undeniably captured the public’s imagination as the ‘walkman’ mp3 player of the 21st century, and despite the sophistication in some of the latest models from a range of competitors such as Sony, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, LG, Creative, Archos, iRiver, Cowon and others, Apple continues to rule the roost in the world of portable mp3 players and legal music (and other digital media) download stores.

This was because the iPod is incredibly easy to use, as is iTunes. iTunes made it incredibly easy to transfer music from your computer to your iPod, it made it incredibly easy to rip CDs and get track names automatically, it made it easy to legally buy music from all the major labels and finally because it was easy to organize your music collection using iTunes. Apple’s success is in being a system, and while that system is working it’s hard to break into.

Indeed, while software other than iTunes exists to transfer music to an iPod, the vast majority of iPod owners use iTunes because it ‘just works’.

For Amazon or other music stores to begin to challenge iTunes sales, they’ll need to offer all tracks in DRM-free format, whether in mp3 or AAC format so they’ll work on any mp3 player, iPod or otherwise.

They also need to make the tracks and albums price competitive, whether that means the same or cheaper pricing, and they need to offer digital extras such as lyrics, album art, digital ebooks etc.

If a ‘simple’ program could interface with all mp3 players, be they iPods, Zens, Zunes or other devices to easily manage the music stored on the plugged-in mp3 player, that would also help in letting helping music stores better compete with iTunes. Microsoft wants that program to be Windows Media Player 11, but it just isn’t as easy to immediately grasp as is iTunes. Maybe they’ll get it right with Windows Media Player 12.

The ‘Songbird’ software, reckoned to one day be an iTunes competitor as Firefox is to Internet Explorer, has some kind of connections to the Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird projects but from memory isn’t being worked on by Firefox or Thunderbird developers and could be the open-source iTunes alternative to popularly emerge. That hasn’t happened yet but it’s one to keep an eye on.

For now, with Apple TV already launched and the iPhone to come within less than 30 days, Apple’s position in the market is stronger than ever, and a ‘later this year’ launch from Amazon is nothing to worry about, nor is any other media store just yet.

But as the other labels ‘inevitably’ decide to offer their entire digital collections in DRM-free format as well, the chance of much stronger competition to iTunes starts becoming a reality. Amazon’s move copied Apple’s and eMusic’s (who have sold DRM-free music from all but the major labels for years), and will soon be copied by every other music store.

What iTunes has shown is that the quality of the experience matters more than the price, which in the world of p2p piracy, is free. If competing stores can better the iTunes experience, they have a chance. If not, iTunes definitely won’t be out of tune anytime yet.