Amazon.com has announced that its MP3 store is now optimized specifically for iPhone and iPod touch. This move of Amazon will make it easier for iPhone owners to circumvent the iTunes store. Further, this initiative is an attempt by Amazon to challenge Apple’s dominance of the digital music market.
For the first time ever, iPhone and iPod touch users can discover and buy digital music from Amazon’s 22-million song catalog using the Safari browser.
The Customers also have access to favorite Amazon features like personalized recommendations, best-seller lists and Amazon customer ratings. Music purchases are automatically saved to customers’ Cloud Player libraries and can be downloaded or played instantly from any iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, Roku, Sonos home entertainment system, or any web browser, giving customers the freedom to enjoy more music, from more devices than any other major cloud music service.
Features of the Amazon MP3 store on the mobile web browser include:
- The Amazon MP3 mobile website for iPhone and iPod touches is built on HTML5, which means customers can make purchases directly from the Amazon MP3 mobile website
- Selection of over 22 million songs and over two million albums at everyday low prices
- Access to everyday deals like $5 albums, $0.69 songs, and free songs from artists on the rise
- Individualized recommendations based on purchase history
- Immediate availability and seamless playback of purchases in the Amazon Cloud Player app
- Free storage of all Amazon MP3 purchases in Amazon Cloud Player
This move comes a week after Amazon launched a service that gives compact disc buyers instant copies of music in the Internet “cloud” in a challenge to iTunes. Amazon AutoRip provides free MP3 versions of music on CDs bought from the online retail giant.
According to research firm NPD, iTunes last year held a 64 percent share of the digital music market and 29 percent share of all music sold at retail. Amazon had 16 percent of the digital market, according to NPD’s September survey.
