Skip to footer

In jab at iTunes, Amazon releases iOS-optimized MP3 store

The Amazon MP3 store now plays nice with iPhone and iPod devices. 

|
Amazon
Amazon has rolled out a Safari iOS-optimized version of its MP3 store.
  • By Matthew Shaer

Amazon is taking on iTunes on Apple's own turf. 

Beginning this week, iPhone and iPod users will be able to access an iOS-optimized version of the popular Amazon MP3 store – not as an App Store app (a move that Apple likely would have sought to block) but through the Safari browser. To get to the platform, boot up your phone, and navigate over to Amazon.com/MP3, where you'll find a sleek and shiny HTML5-based MP3 Store Web application. 

"Since the launch of the Amazon Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod Touch, a top request from customers has been the ability to buy music from Amazon right from their devices," Steve Boom, Vice President of Amazon Music, said in a statement. 

Amazon says 22 million songs and 2 million albums are available through the MP3 store, many at prices that undercut those on iTunes – the Amazon MP3 store, for instance, offers plenty of tracks for $0.69, compared to the typical $0.99 price on iTunes.

So how does the service stack up to iTunes? Well, over at The Mac Observer, Jim Tanous is pleased, for the most part. 

"Although not a native app, our early impressions of Amazon’s MP3 Store on iOS devices is positive," Tanous wrote in a short hands-on review posted today. "Responsiveness is good and the layout is well-designed for touch input. While many may still prefer to stick with Apple’s ecosystem, those looking for an alternative will likely be pleased by Amazon’s latest move." 

No word yet on what Apple thinks of the platform. 

Tried out the app yourself? Drop us a line in the comments section. And for more tech news, follow us on Twitter: @CSMHorizonsBlog

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to In jab at iTunes, Amazon releases iOS-optimized MP3 store
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2013/0117/In-jab-at-iTunes-Amazon-releases-iOS-optimized-MP3-store
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe