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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
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Discover New Music

  • Perverse

    • 8 out of 10
    • Jesus Jones
    • When you think of Jesus Jones, chances are you can't remember them at all, or you vaguely remember "Right Here, Right Now" because it has been use

  • The Life Pursuit

    • 8 out of 10
    • Belle & Sebastian
    • The Life Pursuit is a sort of Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. You get Belle & Sebastian's peanut butter (its wistful, often irresistible pop) dipped in a 'Have A Nice Day!' and glam 70s chocol

  • Gimme Fiction

    • 10 out of 10
    • Spoon
    • Gimme Fiction by Spoon is a terrific album by an Austin band that I was lucky enough to catch on an Austin radio station during a Christmas visit.

  • Life's Rich Pageant

    • 8 out of 10
    • R.E.M.
    • In the long series of R.E.M.'s evolution, this album (finally?) showcases their ability to capture on tape what had been happening in the live for years: heartfelt, sweat-filled performances that just
  • King James Version

    • 4 out of 10
    • Harvey Danger
    • The sophomore effort from Harvey Danger, I was really looking forward to this followup to "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" Unfortunately, "King James Version" failed to deliver any of the bri

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News

Amazon Launches DRM-free Music Download Service

Amazon is finally throwing its hat into the music download arena with the beta launch of its Amazon MP3 store on Tuesday. Amazon claims that it has over 2 million songs available, and that all are available in MP3 format without copy protection restrictions.

Amazon MP3 is compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows, most portable media players including the iPod, and songs can be purchased and downloaded from a Web browser. Users wanting to purchase complete albums, however, will need to download the free Amazon MP3 Downloader application.

Unlike Apple’s iTunes Store, Amazon’s tracks are priced on a sliding scale. While some songs come in below Apple’s US$0.99 a track at $0.89, many cost as much as tracks at the iTunes Store, and in some cases even more.

Amazon is hosting music from a wide range of artists including 50 Cent, Ani DiFranco, Beastie Boys, Coldplay, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ella Fitzgerald, Feist, John Coltrane, KT Tunstall, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Chemical Brothers, The Rolling Stones, and more. The service is also offering songs from several independent record labels including Alligator Records, HighTone Records, Sugar Hill Records, and Trojan Records.

The wide range of music coupled with Amazon’s platform agnostic approach to digital music sales could put Amazon MP3 in a position to compete with Apple’s iTunes Store. If Amazon MP3 is plagued with the same complaints Amazon Unbox suffered from when it launched, however, Apple won’t have to worry too much about the new player in the music download game.

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