Amazon.com said Wednesday it launching an online music store this year featuring millions of songs without copying limitations.

 

The online retail giant said it had a deal with British-based music publisher EMI Music to include its music catalog as well as those from 12,000 other music labels.

 

The move comes amid increased interest in freeing up online music from so-called digital rights management (DRM) that limits how a user may copy or transfer a song after downloading.

 

The announcement did not indicate the cost of the downloads, which typically cost around one dollar at most digital music sites.

 

"Every song and album in the Amazon.com digital music store will be available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software," Amazon said in a statement.

 

"Our MP3-only strategy means all the music that customers buy on Amazon is always DRM-free and plays on any device," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and chief executive.

 

"We're excited to have EMI joining us in this effort and look forward to offering our customers MP3s from amazing artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones and Joss Stone."

 

Last month, EMI said it would offer songs by Coldplay, Madonna and a host of other stars for download without copy protection as part of a deal with Apple's iTunes website.

 

"Amazon.com is synonymous with a great consumer experience, and they have become an important retail partner of ours," said Eric Nicoli, chief executive of EMI Group.

 

"I applaud Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com for making this move. Amazon.com's deep understanding of consumers and vast knowledge of music paves the way for a smooth entry into the digital arena. Their arrival in the digital music market will offer even more consumer choice and will be a big advance in addressing the lack of interoperability which has frustrated many music fans."

 

EMI last month launched a new premium download service, in which the company began offering retailers DRM-free music to sell in the audio format of their choice up to CD quality.

 

"EMI is releasing the premium downloads in response to consumer demand for DRM-free, high fidelity digital music for use on home music systems, mobile phones and digital music players," the music group said in a statement.

 

 

Source: Various

Did you know that 7Digital also offers downloads in various formats, including the crap wma, mp3 & m4a :smug: