Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Every day through December 25, we're unveiling a new holiday song available to download free for a limited time. Check back daily to see what's next."

Tis the season, to pick up some free holiday themed MP3's. You can pick them us as you go or you can probably just pop in nearer to the 25th and grabl them all at once. My fingers are crossed for some Trans-Siberian Orchestra before the offer is over.

This is a watershed moment: in the span of several months, both NewEgg and Amazon have started selling electronics in Canada. I don't think people outside Canada understand how limited our options were for online ordering, especially as it related to having a big selection. Quit often the Best Buy and Future Shop Web sites carried the same number of products as the local stores, so there wasn't a lot to be gained from ordering online. Unfortunately, bredth of product selection is something that both NewEgg and Amazon.ca are lacking, though NewEgg is far in advance of Amazon.ca. For instance, Amazon.ca's digital camera selection consists of 20 camera models total, and not a Nikon in sight. NewEgg has 171 in comparison. I'm sure Amazon's collection will grow - I'm just glad that I have more options when it comes to buying electronics!

"Dear Customers, Wrap rage describes the frustration we humans feel when trying to free a product from a nearly impenetrable package. Some products are hermetically sealed inside plastic clamshell cases, while others (especially toys) use plastic-coated steel-wire ties. Without the right tools, wire ties can be painful and time-consuming to untwist. Today, we're excited to announce the beginning of a multi-year initiative designed to alleviate wrap rage Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging."

Great idea and it seems like a win for all sides. Clamshell packaging evolved as a way to deter shoplifing in the retail environment. Since this is not a problem for Amazon, they are able to cut out the extra cost and waste associated with this packaging. The packaging still seems a bit large for the size of the product, but at least most of it is easily recyclable. Hopefully the cost savings in packaging will offset the cost of having two different types of packaging and more companies will jump on board.

UPDATE: Upon futher reading, my comment about the packaging seeming a bit large is a bit off-base. Apparently, the package is also the shipping box, so no more box in a box.

For me, Amazon's MP3 store represented a chance to finally get into purchasing MP3's. Prior to this, a majority of my collection came from ripped CD's, but over say the last 5 years, I've hardly purchased any CD's because frankly there was not much out there that I liked well enough to buy an entire CD. When Amazon's store first opened, I purchased a couple of tracks just to try it out and then kind of put it on the back burner. Well in the last few weeks, I've rediscovered their store and wanted to pass on some of the great deals that they run. First off, as you know their tracks DRM free, and run mostly around $0.99 each (with some of the more popular songs at $0.89). I find myself just buying tracks of songs I like from the radio without giving the price a second thought. Of course that is old news for those of you that have been buying from iTunes for years. What I'm really liking is that Amazon runs daily specials on entire albums for really cheap prices. For example a few days back I picked up Beck's “Odelay” for $3.99 and today I picked up “The Best of John Mellencamp: 20th Century Masters” for just $1.99. Additionally, on Friday's they offer 5 albums for $5 each. Sure, they might be taking a loss on some of these, but they are getting me in the habit of checking in daily to see what they have to offer, and of course as long as I'm there, I may end up picking up a song or too. Overall, I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that Amazon has come up with yet another way to separate me from my money, but you live in a territory that offers it, be sure to give Amazon's MP3 store a second look.

"For example, Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 on 256-bit DRM-free MP3 is just $9.99 from Amazon. The same album is also $9.99 from Apple, but you get DRM. And there are tons of tracks on Amazon that are actually less expensive than on iTMS, so you get better music for less money without the DRM hassle. So is Apple screwing the customers? In a word, no. The reason you can find more music on Amazon at a lower price is that the Record Labels want it that way. Do you think they charge Apple and Amazon the same price for each track and Apple simply charges you more and pockets the difference as a higher markup? The labels would like you to think that, but they actually charge Amazon less for each track, and that’s how Amazon can charge you less."

There is some interesting logic to this article. There were no references, so I have no idea if the labels actually sell to Amazon for less than Apple. I certainly follow that the record companies want Amazon in the game to keep Apple in check. However, I disagree that this will let the record labels take back control AND allow them to keep DRM. I think at this point they have to choose either/or. If they want to keep DRM in place, then they are stuck with Apple calling the shots. If they are willing to go DRM free, then competition can at least keep Apple in check .

"You are receiving this e-mail due to your purchase of an HD DVD player from Amazon.com before February 23, 2008. As you may know, manufacture of HD DVD players ceased February 23, 2008, and major studios in the U.S. have ceased production of HD DVDs. In recognition of this development, Amazon.com is providing all customers who purchased qualifying HD DVD players a credit for $50 off any products sold by Amazon.com for each HD DVD player unit purchased from us prior to February 23, 2008, up to a limit of 10 per customer, or a maximum credit of $500 per customer."



I'd heard about this a few weeks ago, but doubted it was legit because I had never received said e-mail. After seeing it reported a few other places, I called Amazon, and sure enough, it is legit and despite the fact that I had never received the e-mail the credit had automatically been applied to my account. I've got to say, this is pretty cool on Amazon's part as well as the other retailers that are doing similar promotions. Do I wish HD DVD had won out? Sure. But I knew going in that it might not be the winner and accepted the risk in making the purchase. Certainly it was not Amazon's fault it did not win, so a big kudos to them for going above and beyond to satisfy their customers.

"Yahoo Music general manager Ian Rogers has long been lobbying the music industry to drop DRM. Yahoo was one of the first to begin testing sales of DRM-free MP3s in December of 2006, when it started selling unprotected tracks from EMI. Since then, the DRM-free music biz has exploded, with DRM-free offerings found through iTunes, Amie Street, Amazon, eMusic, magnatune, PureTracks, and 7digital. But none of them (save Amazon) have DRM-free music available from nearly all major artists, leaving Amazon as the place to go for the widest selection of unprotected music. Until Yahoo joins the party, that is. Yahoo has the potential to wrangle the Big Four into a deal and become the second major music store to offer DRM-free music from them all (plus, undoubtedly, a smattering of independent labels as the others already do). Why Yahoo and not the others? Because, save for iTunes, the other music stores are either not very interested in big music, or just plain aren't very big (eMusic is a decent size, but focuses mostly on indie labels). The music labels are also still holding out on iTunes a bit to get back at Apple for holding the keys to the castle for so long. So who's left? Yahoo and Amazon."

I'm happy about the level of competition that Yahoo will bring to the game even though I think Amazon has the advantage. Why you may ask? First off Amazon is a retailer first and foremost. Sure Yahoo has shopping but I bet nearly every visitor to this site already has an account with Amazon, while I bet less than half have ever bought anything through Yahoo shopping. Second, Amazon already sells LOTS of CDs. I'm sure this gives them clout with the labels. Plus it gives them the ability to leverage their sizable customer database for recommendations and such.