Thursday, January 10, 2013

Amazon Converts CDs Into MP3, For Free With New Service

In what might be one of the biggest moves by Amazon.com in the music area to date, the company said this morning that it will begin providing MP3 versions of CDs purchased from the company to users, for free--including every single CD a user has purchased from the company since 1998. Amazon said its new Amazon AutoRip feature will automatically add free MP3 versions of CDs they purchase from Amazon.com to their Cloud Player library, which users can then stream or download to their own PC. Amazon said the new service will cover more than 50,000 albums, including titles from every major record label. Amazon said that the move makes many CDs on the site--including free digital copy--less than the cost of a digital album at iTunes.