SLIP-SLIDING AWAY
Techmeme was abuzz with the news yesterday that Amazon was going to start offering music for sale in MP3 form, free of DRM (digital rights management) restrictions.
I agree with Fred Wilson's sentiment on this...as a person who buys most of my CD music through Amazon anyway, this one's a no-brainer. Fred had this to say about the announcement:
"Today I love Amazon even more because they are launching a digital music store that will ONLY contain DRM free mp3s. I already buy most of my music from Amazon in CD form. I'd rather buy it in DRM free mp3 form, but until now, I haven't had that option. Now I do.
Thanks Amazon. You made my day."
I'll likely buy more digital music at Amazon as well, supplementing my purchases on Apple's iTunes store. Those will likely only occur when I can't find a CD at a competitive price, or a DRM-free MP3 track on Amazon.
The announcement did make me think though of how the folks at eMusic are going to fare post this announcement. They've been the second largest digital music retailer after Apple's iTunes, with a 10% plus share compared to iTunes' 70% plus share.
Their claim to fame as an online music retailer has been offering one of the widest selection of indie music, free of DRM restrictions, in MP3 format.
Fred has been a loyal supporter of eMusic for a long time, as he articulates in this post from last August:
"eMusic doesn't have a lot of the music I want to buy so I still purchase a lot of CDs, but when they've got it, I always buy it from them."
Back last May, I'd posted on the eMusic value proposition. After Amazon's announcement, and potentially similar announcements by Apple's iTunes in the future, eMusic's value proposition going forward will likely center around it's indie music focus.
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