Amazon MP3 vs Itunes Music Store - Difference and Comparison

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To choose between Amazon MP3 and Itunes Music Store, rate them on the comparison parameters by entering scores (+ve or -ve) in the comparison tool. The total points are automatically shown in the top row. This should help you decide.

Amazon MP3

Itunes Music Store

Currently 3.50/5
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Rating: 3.5/5 (6 votes)

Currently 2.43/5
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Rating: 2.4/5 (7 votes)

Pricing:

$0.89 to $0.99 per song; $5.99 to $9.99 per album

$0.99 (with DRM); $1.29 (DRM-free) per song; $9.99 per album

Launched on:

September 25, 2007

April 28, 2003

Catalog:

2 million songs

6 million songs

File format:

MP3

AAC, MP4

DRM:

Yes (FairPlay technology from Apple)

Amazon MP3 is an online music store that sells DRM-free songs and albums. It was launched in September 2007.

iTunes is Apple's online music store that was launched in April 2003. Most downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by FairPlay, Apple's version of digital rights management. Apple also sells some DRM-free songs at a premium.

1 Catalog
2 File format and Sound Quality
3 Openness
4 Availability
5 Pricing
6 Compatibility with iPod
7 Related Articles

[edit] Catalog

Amazon MP3 offers DRM-free downloads of over 2 million songs from 180,000 artists and 20,000 labels. In comparison, Apple says the iTunes Store now contains over 6 million songs.

[edit] File format and Sound Quality

While Amazon sells songs in the MP3 format with a 256 kbit/s bitrate, most iTunes songs are encoded using FairPlay-encrypted 128 kbit/s AAC streams in an mp4 wrapper, using the .m4p extension. As of 29 May 2007 tracks on the EMI label have been made available in a DRM-less format called iTunes Plus. These files are unprotected and are encoded in the AAC format at 256 kilobits, twice the bitrate of standard tracks bought through the service, but are sold at a premium ($1.29 per song).

While in theory AAC achieves better sound quality than the MP3 format when compared at the same bitrate, the difference in the bitrates means that Amazon MP3 sound quality is practically indistinguishable from iTunes songs.

[edit] Openness

Since Amazon sells songs without DRM and in the open MP3 format, these songs can be played on any device or computer. On the other hand, Apple has not agreed to license its proprietary FairPlay encryption scheme to other hardware manufacturers until recently, so only Apple's iPod was able to play AAC files encrypted with Apple's FairPlay technology. Computers with iTunes or QuickTime installed can also play these songs.

Apple licenses AAC compression and MP4 file format readily. The DRM-free songs sold by iTunes do not use FairPlay, so these can be played by any device/software that has licensed the necessary codecs from Apple.

[edit] Availability

The Amazon MP3 service is available only for consumers in America, whereas iTunes is also available in France, Germany, UK, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, Norway, Australia and New Zealand. See also: Map of iTunes availability

[edit] Pricing

Amazon MP3 is cheaper than iTunes. Most songs on Amazon MP3 are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. On iTunes, individual songs are available for 99 cents (with DRM) and $1.29 (DRM-free). Albums are usually $9.99.