AmazonMP3.com is an awesome music site and has pretty much weened me off of the iTunes Store completely. Not only because of the DRM, but because of the variable pricing. Yes, that's right. The variable pricing is awesome because I'm able to get a song for 89 cents up to $1.90 (for songs that are longer in time - i.e. 15 minutes). The songs that are more expensive aren't available on iTunes at all unless you purchase the entire album. On top of that, yesterday I just purchased the entire new album by The Killers for $4 on Amazon MP3 - whereas iTunes only sells the version with a music video and forces you to pay $12.
Another site that's been treating me well is Lala.com, since it lest you listen to the entire song once - instead of just 30 second samples. Plus their variable pricing is sometime better than AmazonMP3. Heck, I can get songs from Lala for as low as 79 cents! Who says variable pricing doesn't work for the consumer?!
My point being, I left iTunes not because I hate it, but because they've stopped innovating on the side of the consumer - at least when it comes to music. Even taking a comparison with Zune's diverse music store options makes iTunes pale. iTunes has great exclusives, but they're no longer has the ability to hold the title as "Best Music Store" just because they're the biggest.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
AmazonMP3.com is an awesome music site and has pretty much weened me off of the iTunes Store completely. Not only because of the DRM, but because of the variable pricing. Yes, that's right. The variable pricing is awesome because I'm able to get a song for 89 cents up to $1.90 (for songs that are longer in time - i.e. 15 minutes). The songs that are more expensive aren't available on iTunes at all unless you purchase the entire album. On top of that, yesterday I just purchased the entire new album by The Killers for $4 on Amazon MP3 - whereas iTunes only sells the version with a music video and forces you to pay $12.
Another site that's been treating me well is Lala.com, since it lest you listen to the entire song once - instead of just 30 second samples. Plus their variable pricing is sometime better than AmazonMP3. Heck, I can get songs from Lala for as low as 79 cents! Who says variable pricing doesn't work for the consumer?!
My point being, I left iTunes not because I hate it, but because they've stopped innovating on the side of the consumer - at least when it comes to music. Even taking a comparison with Zune's diverse music store options makes iTunes pale. iTunes has great exclusives, but they're no longer has the ability to hold the title as "Best Music Store" just because they're the biggest.