Amazon has announced the launch of AutoRip, a service that gives customers free MP3 versions of albums that they have previously purchased through Amazon as CDs. This includes albums from the beginning of the Amazon music store back in 1998. While not all albums are eligible, Amazon says that more than 50,000 albums are ready for AutoRip. According to Amazon, the full AutoRip feature list includes:
- Free digital copies: Amazon customers who purchase AutoRip CDs get free MP3 versions of the albums delivered directly to their Cloud Player libraries – automatically, immediately, and at no cost – no more hassling with ripping CDs and finding a way to get them onto your favorite devices.
- For CD purchases dating back to 1998: MP3 versions of AutoRip CDs that customers have purchased since the launch of Amazon’s music store in 1998 will also be delivered to their Cloud Player libraries for free.
- Enjoy everywhere: Music can be played instantly from any Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, iPhone, iPod touch, Samsung TVs, Roku, Sonos, and any web browser, giving customers the freedom to enjoy music from more devices than any other major cloud locker music service.
- Free storage and backup: All AutoRip MP3s are stored for free in customers’ Cloud Player libraries and do not count against Cloud Player storage limits. Customers can buy music and know that it is safely stored in Cloud Player and accessible from any compatible device.
- High-quality audio: AutoRip music is provided in high-quality 256 Kbps MP3 audio.
For anyone that has purchased a lot of CDs through Amazon, this is a nice feature. It's so nice, in fact, that it would be incredibly useful in other parts of the Amazon ecosystem.
Offering free MP4 versions of purchased DVDs and BluRays, though likely something Hollywood would never allow, would be great for customers transitioning away from physical, scratchable media.
Offering a free Kindle version of every eligible book that a customer has purchased since the beginning of Amazon would also be fantastic. Most customers get their music digitally now, whether though iTunes, Amazon, or services like Spotify and Rdio, but, though their sales are decreasing, physical books remain popular items.
What do you think the odds are of getting publishers on board? Any better than Hollywood? Would getting digital versions of all physical media through a your entire purchase history be something you're interested in?
Source: Amazon
Reader comments
Amazon launches AutoRip feature, offers free MP3 versions of purchased CD musc
While a few may appreciate this service, they might just as well offer an accompanying floppy-disc copy of the tracks; most of us gladly got rid of all those CD's years ago...
Buying an entire CD because you like 1 or 2 tracks on it seems antiquated, as does purchasing these hard-to-recycle discs.
Personally, I think this is the best excuse for going digital. You get the instant gratification of a digital purchase with the actual disc that includes the artwork and backup of a real disc.
As I said, some will like it. As your Amazon (or iTunes) purchase is permanent and you can always re-download a track, your digital purchase is your backup. I personally have no need for a non-recyclable disc that is going the way that floppy discs did years ago. Don't see the need for the artwork -- other than the album cover pic that comes with the digital purchase. iTunes includes more digital artwork if you purchase an entire album -- some people are into that I guess -- they generally tend to be packrats by nature ;-)
Call it however you see it but the MP3/iTunes/digital media is the blame for crappy present day CDs. Artists & producers go into the studio knowing they are only trying to create 1 or 2 hits. This is because most music sales are digital downloads of a single track. The rest of the songs are meant for filler, just an artist can say they released a whole album/CD/or whatever in the hell they call it these days.
Apple may have re-invented how music is bought and listened to but Apple has also single-handedly destroyed the mechanisms needed to create a spectacular album from beginning to end.
Not really -- liking just a couple tracks of an entire CD has been the norm for quite some time. Point is, one person's preference of some of the tracks aren't the same as another person's -- a primary advantage of purchasing music ala carte.
Thanks though for stopping by ;-)
*music :3
And all of this is great unless, of course, you live in Canada where we don't get this service. Typical Canadian copyright crap.