DRM News

If you haven’t heard by now Amazon has a large selection of digital music. Over 8 million songs, and 1 million plus albums. Not too shabby. You can get samples of each track to make sure you’re getting the right song, which is a nice feature. In the song descriptions they’ll also tell you what it is compatible with, iPod, MP3 players, WMP.

What is typically not known is that the majority of the music on Amazon is DRM free. Well some of it is. If you look at Amazon’s ‘Getting Started’ section it says:

The MP3 files you purchase from Amazon.com do not contain any software (frequently referred to as “digital rights management” software) that will restrict your use of the file. When you make a purchase from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store, you are accepting and bound by the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use.

So this is pretty good news, if you don’t like DRM in your music it seems that Amazon is a great place to grab it from. However the next paragraph is the one you need to be aware of.

Our ability to offer music to you in MP3 format is limited by the rights granted to us by the record companies. Currently, not all record companies grant us a license to sell their music for download in MP3 format free of digital rights management software.

I took a look around and didn’t find any mention of DRM on a song, I was looking for something like how GamersGate mentions DRM on the games it sells. So I sent off a question about this to their Customer Support people, this was the response I received.

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thank you for asking about use restrictions on MP3 files downloaded from Amazon.com. We do not have any MP3 songs that have DRM. Our MP3 files contain no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, are provided in an industry standard MP3 format, and should be compatible with most systems capable of reading MP3 audio files.

However, when you make a purchase from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store, you are also accepting and bound by the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use available at this URL:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200154280

The files you purchase from Amazon MP3 Music Downloads are free of any digital rights management software to allow you more freedom with managing your music library; however, we do ask that you respect the licensing agreements outlined by Amazon.com and our content providers. This includes avoiding any use of the MP3 files that is specifically prohibited in the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use.

I hope you found this information helpful. You can also access additional information about our MP3 Music Downloads in our Help pages here:

www.amazon.com/help/amazonmp3

So what to believe? They’ve added the caveat that some songs may have DRM, yet deny that they have any. So for right now I would say that its still buyer beware, however I’d give Amazon the benefit of the doubt that most of the tracks are DRM free. However, if you know a song or CD has DRM from another vendor, it may still have it on Amazon. At least until they can be more clear answer on their DRM policy without caveats.

Now on the plus side, Amazon has over 1,600 FREE songs. Free as in no cost, just download away. So if you’re looking for new bands to listen to and discover free is the way to start.