Just days ago, I documented what I thought were two shortcomings related to the Amazon MP3 Downloads service: Users can only download songs once (minor), and Amazon’s MP3 Downloader utility lacks proxy support (at the time, also minor). As a result of these issues, I ended up paying for an album that I wasn’t able to download, and I contacted Amazon customer service for assistance. In doing so, I discovered that the lack of proxy support within the downloader (and lack of a downloader for alternative operating systems) may actually result in higher prices for a subset of Amazon’s customer base.
Amazon customer service responded to my original request for assistance via e-mail, and began by indicating that they’d reset the download bit on the album with which I was having difficulty (my first purchase). I verified that I was indeed able to download the album, and then went back to read the additional information included in Amazon’s response. Near the top of the message:
It is not necessary that you have the Amazon MP3 Downloader installed to access your MP3 purchases. In the future, you can directly access the MP3 after your purchase by selecting the Skip installation and continue link located below the links for the Amazon MP3 Downloader. After selecting this link, you can just save the MP3 to your computer.
This isn’t news–Amazon’s support documentation and download disclaimers explain as much. However, as I read on:
If you wish to purchase an entire album, you are required to use the Amazon MP3 Downloader available for Windows XP or Vista and Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. If you initiate an album purchase and the Downloader is not installed on your system, you will be prompted to install the Downloader or cancel the purchase.
Please note, while shopping in the MP3 Music Download Store, you may encounter special album prices that are only available if you purchase an entire album. If you do not have the Amazon MP3 Downloader installed, you will not be able to complete your purchase. You will be able to buy songs on the album individually at the per-song price, but the discount may not apply.
So, customers are not required to use the downloader, but the downloader is required in order to purchase albums. And the downloader is only available to users of either Windows or Mac OS X. And even for users of these supported operating systems, the downloader will only work for those accessing Amazon.com directly (not via a proxy).
The result? Users who access Amazon MP3 Downloads via a proxy or unsupported operating system–Linux variants and FreeBSD come to mind–may be forced to pay a higher per-album price, for no good reason.
Amazon’s draw is that they offer music at lower prices than iTunes, and don’t pollute downloaded files with DRM or watermarks. Price (likely) being the primary draw, one would think that Amazon would want to make the target market for MP3 Downloads as far-reaching as possible, to include users of alternative operating systems. Because Amazon needn’t be concerned with DRM or device compatibility, they have no compelling reason to require that any client-side software be installed for any reason other than an improved customer experience (I.e., restartable downloads and third-party library imports).
UPDATE1: Seems that a Linux-compatible downloader is in the works. Not sure how I managed to miss that. Thank you, Amazon.com.
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Nice and thorough analysis, Keith, as usual. :-)
The reason for not having a proxy option in the Amazon downloader is regional restrictions. Currently Amazon only allows downloads in three countries (most probably due to copyright/licensing fee reasons): USA, UK, Germany.
Therefore everybody else is not able to download mp3s at Amazon at all.
Have a look at clamz (http://code.google.com/p/clamz). It’s an open-source downloader. If you’re behind a proxy, you’ll need to use the -i commandline option to get the individual download URLs in the AMZ file listed for you. You can then copy-paste the URLs into your browser.