Amazon MP3 Store Gets Warner Music

Amazon MP3 - the online retail giant's DRM-free music store - has inked a deal enabling customers to buy music from the Warner Music Group library.

Amazon’s nascent online music store Amazon MP3 got a boost today, as the company announced users can now purchase songs from the Warner Music Group catalog. The deal marks the first time music from the Warner Music Group has been offered for sale in the DRM-free MP3 format, and lets Amazon’s MP3 store serve as a more-credible alternative to Apple’s iTunes service.

Songs purchased from Amazon MP3 work on virtually any music player—including the iPod. Amazon MP3 launched back in September after months of rumor and speculation, and the service now boasts a catalog of over 2.9 million tracks. Although that number is still smaller than the number of tracks offered by services selling DRM-protected music, it nonetheless represents a fundamental re-thinking of the role of DRM in digital music sales. Warner Music Group’s agreement to sell DRM-free songs through Amazon means that three of the four major labels (EMI, Universal, and Warner Music Group) now offer DRM-free music through at least one online outlet.

"Our customers are delighted with our DRM-free MP3 service," said Amazon.com’s VP of digital music Bill Carr, in a statement. "We have received thousands of emails from our customers since our September launch thanking us for offering the biggest selection of high-quality MP3 audio downloads which play on virtually any music device they own today or will own in the future," . "With the addition of great Warner Music Group content, our customers will discover even more of the music they love on Amazon MP3."

The base song price on Amazon MP3 is 89 cents, although some tracks are more expensive; albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. Songs are encoded at 256Kbps, offering higher audio quality than MP3s encoded at lower bitrates.