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Technology

Amazon to Sell Music Without Copy Protection By BRAD STONE Published: May 17, 2007

After years of industry speculation, Amazon.com is getting into the digital music business.

Related Jobs Calls for End to Music Copy Protection(February 7, 2007) EMI to Drop Digital Locks in Web Sales (April 3, 2007)

Amazon, the Internet's most successful seller of physical CDs, today announced plans to introduce a music download store later this year, selling songs and albums in the MP3 format without the anti-copying protection used by most online music retailers. Selling songs as MP3 files means that customers can transfer their music without limits to any computer, cellphone or music playing device, including Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune. The music will be from a major label, EMI, and 12,000 independent music companies that have chosen not to use the copy-restricting software known as digital rights management, or D.R.M."We are offering a great selection of music that our customers love in a way they clearly desire, which is D.R.M.-free, so they can play it on any device they own today or in the future," said Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president for digital media. David Card, an analyst at JupiterResearch, said Amazon's store would immediately position Amazon as a serious rival to Apple and its popular iTunes service. "We've been waiting for Amazon to be a serious player in digital music for some time," he said. "They know how to sell music and this is a powerful endorsement of the MP3 strategy." The move comes more than a month after Apple announced a similar initiative with EMI to sell music in the unprotected format on iTunes. Apple plans to start selling EMI's songs as MP3 format later this month. The other major music labels, like Universal Music Group, SonyBMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, appear reluctant to forgo copy protection. Universal Music, the world's largest music label, recently conducted limited experiments with D.R.M.-free music sales in France, but also has not committed to selling unprotected music. That will limit Amazon's music selection in the short term, although Mr. Carr of Amazon.com said he hoped that today's announcement would persuade other music labels to take part. Amazon did not announce many details of the new service. It would not comment on the planned pricing for songs and albums. As for whether EMI would make the Beatles catalog available for digital downloads on Amazon.com, the music label said it had not yet reached a deal with Apple Corps, the Beatles' music company, to sell the band's songs digitally. But Paul McCartney's solo work, including a coming album, will be available as MP3s for download on the new Amazon service and on Apple's iTunes Store.

Copyright by the New York Times 2007