Amazon MP3 could start price war

THE GREEN EYED monster could be lurking at Apple soon enough as Amazon’s new MP3 download service looks set to beat prices all round.

Amazon MP3 is selling top albums and singles as well as the old classics at the cheapest price on the download market.

Singles start at just 48p on Amazon MP3 which is a full 20p cheaper than rival Apple’s download service.

The MP3s available from Amazon will be compatible with any MP3 device as it uses the universal MP3 format – files are also free from any DRM copy protection hobbleage.

To make the service even easier to use the purchased tracks will be automagically added to the user’s Itunes or Windows Media Player library using a small application making it easy to sync to an MP3 device or burn to CD.

So far over three million songs from all the major record labels are available to download from Amazon’s service.

Ged Doherty, chairman and chief executive of Sony BMG, one of the major labels signed to the Amazon MP3 service said, "Amazon’s music services in the US have attracted new digital music consumers and helped grow the digital market, we have high hopes that it will have the same impact in the UK.”

However, although this is good news for Amazon, analysts do warn that while this new service could pull users away from the Itunes store and other competitors, it could still lose out in the end.

"Unless Amazon has struck a better business deal with the record labels than Apple, Amazon is likely to be taking a loss on MP3 sales. Unlike Apple, Amazon isn't making money from Ipods and Iphones, it makes money from content," warns Dan Cryan, an analyst with Screen Digest.

Yet although content is Amazon’s way of pulling in the money, with their prices, it should be coming in thick and fast. µ