Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#41

Post by randlet » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:18 PM UTC

quadhome wrote: post #5

"Available to US customers only."[0] That sucks. "MP3 versions of tracks from CDs purchased from Amazon since 1998 and that are eligible for AutoRip will be delivered to your Cloud Player library." That rocks. [0] http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=...

FWIW I'm in Canada and logged into my amazon.com[1] account and was pleasantly surprised to see ~100 songs from cds I'd previously purchased.

[1] I have both .ca and .com accounts and use the .com account much more frequently than .ca.

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#42

Post by portman » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:19 PM UTC

k2enemy wrote: post #3

If only the publishers would let them do this with books!

I currently buy two copies of books that I really really like -- both the Kindle and the hardback, both from Amazon. Maybe there are enough crazy people like me that the publishers shouldn't offer this 2:1 deal?

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#43

Post by eli » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:21 PM UTC

epaulson wrote: post #10

It's a little frustrating that only some discs are eligible. I wonder if that's just because they haven't ripped everything or if they have specific license agreements. I'll pitch my friend's here - Murfie ( https://www.murfie.com/ ) does much the same thing, but also includes a marketplace so you can sell your discs. Because everything's backed by a physical CD in their warehouse, everything can just happen in the c…

Isn't that physical CD warehouse the same sort of legal argument that failed for MP3.com in the 90s?

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#44

Post by koenigdavidmj » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:24 PM UTC

mikecane wrote: post #6

k2enemy wrote: post #3

If only the publishers would let them do this with books!

If Hollywood falls next with video, book publishers won't be far behind.

There's Ultraviolet now for video.

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#45

Post by khuey » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:26 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #31

BennyMcBenBen wrote: post #29

This is great, but how did Amazon manage to pull this off? Are we effectively buying three products when we buy an AutoRip CD? (1) The physical CD, (2) The streaming rights for Amazon cloud player, (3) The MP3s which you can download from the cloud player. Is this a legal way to purchase a CD and gift it to a friend or resell it and still maintain the streaming/MP3 rights? Or does the RIAA have a problem with that? S…

Yeah, basically Amazon is paying the man for both the CD and MP3 when you buy a CD. I'm a little surprised this isn't Prime-only.

I wonder how few CDs sell these days.

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#46

Post by suninwinter » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:34 PM UTC

periferral wrote: post #39

Nice. But I wish Amazon would start a trade-in program (similar to Apple). I have CDs from way back when and I'd like to able to get MP3 versions of those CDs. I'm happy to send the CDs to Amazon and have then replace them with MP3s on my cloud player. How about that for a business idea?! edit: Apple doesn't have this but they do convert MP3s you upload to legal versions. Unsure if Amazon provides this as well. Also,…

Amazon now has Cloud Player Premium[1], which is very similar to iTunes Match.

"Import your music collection - even music purchased from iTunes or ripped from CDs. All imported songs we match are instantly made available in Cloud Player and upgraded to high-quality 256 Kbps audio."

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2658409011

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#47

Post by thevdude » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:36 PM UTC

rgbrgb wrote: post #27

induscreep wrote: post #20

Why can't they just offer FLAC and eliminate CDs altogether?

Because most people don't want FLAC. It's huge and incompatible with the most popular players for no noticeable benefit to the vast majority of listeners. AIFF or WAV would be much better candidates if we were going down the lossless digital music route because they are more widely compatible (though a 320 kbps mp3 is the most I'll ever need).

> It's huge ... no noticeable benefit

> WAV would be much better

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#48

Post by RyanMcGreal » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:41 PM UTC

commandar wrote: post #40

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #36

When you buy a CD from bandcamp, they send you the physical CD but in the meantime give you an immediate link to download high-bitrate digital audio files. I much prefer possessing the audio files to streaming audio from a cloud service, which is subject to the usual legal and contractual foolishness and can be turned off at any time.

Just checked and it looks like I can download the tracks to my PC or device for the songs that were added just like anything else in my Cloud Player.

If so, that's very good news for this service.

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#49

Post by FredFredrickson » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:41 PM UTC

BennyMcBenBen wrote: post #29

This is great, but how did Amazon manage to pull this off? Are we effectively buying three products when we buy an AutoRip CD? (1) The physical CD, (2) The streaming rights for Amazon cloud player, (3) The MP3s which you can download from the cloud player. Is this a legal way to purchase a CD and gift it to a friend or resell it and still maintain the streaming/MP3 rights? Or does the RIAA have a problem with that? S…

I don't know how they pulled it off, but I like that they did. Things like this make the music industry more flexible over time, and is only better for us consumers.

I agree though - I had the same thing happen to me when I logged in today (some music that I bought for others on CD is now "mine" in my cloud library). I also got a bunch more stuff that I had bought for myself though, so overall, I'm happy with it.

Re: Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free

#50

Post by Samuel_Michon » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:41 PM UTC

Gmo wrote: post #38

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iTunes Match [0] does the same thing and is already available in dozens of countries, including Germany [1]. It works for all kinds of music, not just tracks you bought from Apple. Ripped CDs, Amazon MP3s, other sources -- and if the quality of your tracks is less than a 256Kbps AAC file, the service downloads better versions from iTunes. [0] http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-match/ [1] http://support.apple.com/kb/h…

No, it does not do the same thing, Apple doesn't sell CDs.

It doesn't need to. iTunes Match doesn't care about where you purchased your CDs. If you want to continue buying CDs at Amazon, that's fine. Rip them in iTunes, and iTunes Match will keep them in the cloud.