Our news story and analysis "What The Amazon Store Is...And Is Not" got so many links and hits that we thought we'd take a look across the web to see what other's thought of the opening of Amazon's MP3 Download Store.
Engadet - "If you're into DRM-free music, you have a reason to get pretty excited today."
Om Malik @ GigaOM - "Bottom line: 26 out of 50. I am not ready to write Amazon off just yet. We might have a worthy competitor..."
David Card of Jupiter Research - "Amazon's 2.3 million song catalog is fairly crippled...But pretty soon, consumers will see the fruit of competition based on pricing, merchandising, packaging, user experience, editorial, knowledge of consumer habits, etc., etc., instead of on random acts of technology...The game just got a lot more interesting.
Hypebot Comment by Bruce Warila - "Is Amazon going to make the pie bigger or divide it? I am doubtful that the paid download market is going to keep growing...: (more great comments from Hypebot readers here.)
Glenn @ Coolfer - "How to push album sales: Let people know the difference between buying the album and buying each song individually. For example, the pitch at Devenda Banhart's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon page: 'Album Savings: $6.85 compared to buying all songs.' Well done."
The Digital Freedom Campaign - “Amazon.com’s recognition that giving consumers what they want – digital music – the way they want it – without burdensome DRM software – makes good business sense...we hope more retailers like Amazon will be there to provide it.”
Digital Music News - "Amazon is tossing something entirely different at the market, and new insights on both DRM and download price sensitivity are likely to emerge."
Hypebot - "Amazon has set the bar higher and that's good for the entire industry. Plus the Amazon name and buying experience and the universal usability of the tracks should help expand the universe of download buyers....(But) it's not the iTunes killer."
Read our analysis and great comments from Hypebot readers here and our news coverage of the opening and which labels are in and out here.
