Amazon.com said on Wednesday it is launching an online music store this year featuring millions of songs without copying limitations.
The online retail giant said it has signed a deal with British-based music publisher EMI Music to include its music catalogue 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 about $1 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 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. EMI also said it would sell music without anti-piracy software over the internet soon. — Sapa-AFP