
Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free - derpenxyne
http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=5946775011&tag=gizmodoamzn-20
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majormajor
This is pretty awesome, but I can't help myself see it rather cynically in
that I don't expect it to expand to books or movies any time soon. Especially
not books.

Ripping a CD is so trivial and such an old practice at this point, and so many
MP3s can fit on a portable device, that buying a CD already de facto gave you
the MP3s for free (except for the bit where you'd have to pay to get more
Cloud Player storage if you want to use Amazon to host them in the cloud for
you). So it's a cool freebie that isn't really costing much.

But I can't rip my own books, and the Kindle cloud hosting and syncing to the
last position read across devices and everything is so damn useful that there
are a lot of books I own physical copies of that I probably will end up buying
again digitally. So, for me at least, doing this for books actually would cost
the publishers and Amazon lost revenue, unlike for MP3s. I just don't see them
deciding that that revenue is less valuable than the customer goodwill it
would create.

Bundling a Kindle version and a hardcover version at a discounted price would
be a nice halfway step, though personally, I'm increasingly moving towards a
"buy on Kindle, find hardcover (sometimes used) if I _really_ like it"
strategy.

~~~
chimeracoder
I wish that they'd do this for books. The biggest thing keeping me from buying
more ebooks is that they're usually the same price as the physical book - and,
in some cases, _more_ expensive than the physical book.

At that price, I'd just as soon buy the physical copy.

On the other hand, it would be nice to know that, when I buy a physical copy,
I _also_ have access to a digital version if needed. In the case of technical
books, which I reference only occasionally (but need very immediately when I
_do_ reference them), it would be perfect.

~~~
dalore
In the UK one of the reasons that digital copies don't come with books is that
if they did that it would mean that it's now VAT chargeable. Books normally
don't have VAT but digital goods do.

~~~
malandrew
I simply don't understand applying a value added tax to digital goods. The
marginal cost of production for digital goods is near zero. That means that
the value added is near zero.

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quadhome
"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=...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200997290)

~~~
elbelcho
The page goes on to say that the first time you log in to your Cloud Player
account they will "scan" your purchases and provide the MP3's for any eligible
albums.

It turns out the only album that I purchased on CD that was eligible was an
album I bought as a gag gift for a friend.

Here I was expecting some awesome free* MP3's but instead I got Barry Manilow.

~~~
earbitscom
That's what you get for thinking Barry Manilow should be a gag gift. Barry is
the Man....ilow.

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pdknsk
I just want to point out that the link is an affiliate link. It does no harm
(other than Amazon making a bit less), and I don't know what the policy on
this is, but IMO if someone makes money from this it should be the site
providing the traffic (YC).

~~~
prezjordan
Side note: is there a policy (on Amazon's end) for editing affiliate links?
Could pg theoretically swap the tag to ?ref=yc-20 if he wanted to?

~~~
jedberg
Amazon has no such policy.

I know this because we considered doing it at reddit (changing or adding our
affiliate link to all Amazon links).

We weren't sure how the community would react, so we we opted not to do it.

~~~
dalore
Metafilter does it. But my love is for reddit.

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ubercow13
On clicking through to the eligible CDs many of them seem to cost less to
purchase than buying the MP3s to begin with. Isn't that a bit silly? If you
just want the MP3s it's sometimes cheaper now to just buy the CD anyway.

Edit: am I right in thinking the difference is that this offer only nets you
the tracks in your cloud player account whereas buying the mp3s means you can
download them too and do what you like with them? If so it seems silly that
you wouldn't also be given DRM free files with this offer as it would just
save you the hassle of making them yourself.

~~~
ghshephard
A significant majority of the time when I want to purchase MP3s from iTunes it
is cheaper for me to purchase the CD from Amazon and have it shipped to me,
then iTunes match it. I've got about 80 or so CDs I've done this with.

I don't know if I'm exploiting a loophole or not, but I figure because I have
the physical CD at my desk, it's legit. I'm still uncertain if this is shady
behavior on my part or not - but I save $2-$3 / CD, so I keep doing it.

~~~
Raphael
You are making a trade-off in time, since you have to wait for the CD to ship
and then you have to go to the trouble to rip it.

~~~
ghshephard
Right - the vast majority of these CDs are classic releases from the 70s, 80s
- definitely not time sensitive. Amazon just tends to have them for super
cheap, whereas iTunes keeps the price high. I figure now I have the best of
_three_ worlds. Physical CD, Itunes Match syncs it across all my gear - and
now, presumably, it will stay in my Amazon Locker forever.

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epaulson
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 cloud and be available for streaming, but there's still
a first-sale doctrine that they can point to.

~~~
alanctgardner2
That's interesting, but the prospect of having them go bankrupt and not only
lose digital files, but also physical disks, is a bit disturbing. Also, no
word on whether disks are fungible... if I send you my autographed maroon 5
boxset, will I get the same boxset back? Or just an equivalent product feom
the warehouse?

~~~
dalore
Why would you send your valuable autographed boxset?

~~~
alanctgardner2
It was hypothetical; why would I own a Maroon 5 album to start with? Jokes
aside, I mostly mean that if they treat the disks as fungible you don't know
what condition you'll get it back in, which might matter for certain albums.

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rgbrgb
I wonder how many people both buy CD's and care about CloudPlayer? I guess I
don't know anyone from either party so there's a chance of there being some
overlap. To me this seems like an utter waste of resources.

How about offering a Spotify-like streaming service? How about making
CloudPlayer free for the first 20,000 songs like Google Play? How about making
a web player that doesn't make me feel like I'm in Target? What about a web
store that's really accessible for indie musicians (that means without
labels). I really want to like Amazon Music, but at this point it doesn't
really feel like a competitor in my demographic (college, computer-savvy).

Edit: Those who think that buying CD's is supporting artists should know that
if you buy an MP3 from them instead they generally get a lot more profit.

~~~
RobAtticus
I'm probably in the minority, but I like to buy CDs because I like having the
physical product to add to my collection. The artwork, liner notes, case, etc.
It's just the thing I like to collect I guess.

I've recently started buying a lot more digital media, especially since Google
Play an Amazon will often do sales of albums for <$5 which is hard to beat.
But maybe now I'll start just buying the physical CD from Amazon and get both
(which I can then stream easily from my Google Play account).

Does any one know if buying CDs "used" from Amazon will get you the AutoRip?
(maybe I missed where it said which are eligible)

EDIT: Only CDs sold by Amazon.com, not other sellers.

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k2enemy
If only the publishers would let them do this with books!

~~~
SG-
I'm sure they will in 5-10 years. The ebook/ereader market is rather 'new'
compared to the digital audio market, at this point everyone has likely
already purchased a digital version of their music or pirated it so there
won't be any lost sales (same idea for iTunes match and other matching/cloud
services).

It's interesting to see the music industry keep moving forward and allowing
this type of stuff to happen (and the itunes match/etc services). The other
two big industries are so far behind.

~~~
ben1040
>It's interesting to see the music industry keep moving forward and allowing
this type of stuff to happen (and the itunes match/etc services). The other
two big industries are so far behind.

The reason seems to be exactly what you pointed out - the music industry's got
a 10 year head start on this because technology arrived sooner that grew the
market and pretty much forced the labels' hands. Broadband, Napster, iPods,
and the industry's ridiculous DRM responses to piracy (and the pain &
suffering that came with it) led the labels to realize a common sense approach
was the only thing that would save them.

The movie studios certainly still haven't learned this yet - I feel like we're
at the point with movies that we were with music in the mid-2000s. Those were
the dark days when there were a dozen different competing DRM standards for
downloads, and the record labels were releasing CDs that were deliberately
damaged so as to not be rippable (or worse, that covertly introduced rootkits
that interfered with access to the CDROM drive).

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BennyMcBenBen
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?

Shrink-wrapped CDs I have gifted friends and family years ago are now showing
up in my cloud player. I have to admit that feels a little weird. How is that
different than if I opened the CD and burned it before gifting it?

~~~
wmf
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.

~~~
khuey
I wonder how few CDs sell these days.

~~~
earbitscom
It still dwarfs all other formats and revenue streams for recorded music.

~~~
portman
Source? I thought MP3 surpassed CD over a year ago...

[http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2012/01/digital-
music-...](http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2012/01/digital-music-sales-
surpass-cds.html)

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periferral
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, while I realize it is
easy to rip and upload, I just don't have the time to do this. I don't think
it is worth paying someone to do this either. I'd rather Amazon take this up.

~~~
suninwinter
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](http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2658409011)

~~~
periferral
exactly. which means i need to rip everything. i dont. amazon should just take
my cds and give me mp3s.

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netcan
My immediate reaction to stuff like this is skeptical. The whole concept of
"owning" a "cd" seems so artificial now.

~~~
jerf
Amazon is selling MP3s. Anyone interested in "owning" the album should simply
make their own backups of the MP3s in question, which have no DRM on them. I
do. Their cloud service is nice and all, but MP3s can still be removed from
it. If Amazon can remove it from my personal hard drives and backups, I've
already lost anyhow.

Amazon's doing it right, here; if you want convenience, OK. If you want to
manage the MP3s yourself, OK. In contrast to their ebooks or video.

~~~
nirvdrum
You could always download it from their service, too. I routinely download
tracks on my phone so I have something to listen to when I have poor mobile
service.

~~~
j_s
Once I accidentally managed to quickly download mp3's for free when my billing
info was out of date.

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AustinGibbons
A lot of comments about how no one owns a CD, its a waste of resources yada
yada yada

For me, I own a car from 2001 so CDs are great. I buy CDs at concerts/shows,
as I've long surpassed the appropriate number of t-shirts to own. I like
supporting the artist, particularly if the artist is doing a signing. My
girlfriend buys CDs, from Amazon, just because she likes having a physical
things. She has been griping that it is a pain to her that she has to rip/burn
it herself!

~~~
rgbrgb
Maybe you should try buying MP3's directly from the artists via
<http://bandcamp.com/> or their websites. Artists make way more cash that way
(oftentimes tremendously more) than they do when you buy a CD, especially if
they're independent. You could probably install an auxiliary adapter to hook
up an mp3 player in your car for around $100 and you'd be saving the planet
too. In my old car I have a $10 tape adapter that works great with my iPhone.

For me personally, having less "stuff" is the biggest bonus of the digital
age. I can't really argue with your girlfriend who "likes having physical
things" except by saying that the stuff those physical things are made of is
really terrible for the Earth. Buying CD's just seems socially irresponsible
if you have an alternative.

Edit: Here's a little support for my carbon footprint case
[http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/the-carbon-case-
fo...](http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/the-carbon-case-for-
downloading-music/). The additional thing to note is that when you buy a CD,
that carbon cost is spent upfront. With an streaming mp3, the cost is
distributed over time with technologies that are continuously improving in
efficiency.

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RyanMcGreal
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.

~~~
commandar
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.

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

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radiosnob
When this is available in Germany (or basically outside the US), they got me.
This is how to make things easy.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
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/ht5085>

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

~~~
Samuel_Michon
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.

~~~
smackfu
If iTunes Match requires ripping, and this just uses purchase history, it's
pretty fundamentally different.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
I recommend you read the post I responded to. For someone who bought CDs in
Germany through Amazon, their new service is of no help. However, if you
bought music at Amazon's site in Germany, iTunes Match will serve you as well
as Amazon's site does in the US.

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mulletbum
What stops me from buying it, getting the MP3s, then selling the wrapped CD on
Ebay?

~~~
colomon
Apparently nothing, since they've just added a load of albums I bought to give
away as Christmas presents to my Cloud Player account...

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

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rgbrgb
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).

~~~
thevdude
> It's huge ... no noticeable benefit

> WAV would be much better

~~~
rgbrgb
I'm just saying that if we're choosing a lossless audio codec I'd like one
supported by Apple. I'll sacrifice storage capacity for being able to listen
with iTunes/iPhones. That said... I always choose mp3's for everything that's
not a "master copy".

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zeroonetwothree
This is pretty awesome. I often buy the CD because it's cheaper than MP3s,
only to rip it and throw it away. At least this will save me a lot of the
work.

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joemaller1
When do we get Kindle copies of the books we bought?

~~~
ceejayoz
I'd happily send Amazon my physical books in exchange for the Kindle versions.

~~~
desas
I wonder how often the shipping cost works out to be more expensive than just
buying the kindle version.

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dustingetz
I speculate they're just trying to de-dup content.

~~~
wmf
An interesting point. If you buy the CD, rip it, and upload the MP3 to Amazon,
then it costs Amazon to store that. With matching Amazon has to pay the label
for another license for that song, but they can just symlink it into your
locker instead of storing another copy. Which is cheaper? Amazon has probably
done the math.

~~~
TylerE
and if they're REALLY smart they have a deal worked out where they don't have
to buy the license until you play a track for the first time.

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techjacker
Great, no linux support for the amazon cloud player. Wtf? It's a web app so
what does it matter what platform I'm on?

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WalterBright
I've bought tons of CDs from Amazon, at least a hundred. Exactly two show up
in the cloud player. Oh well.

~~~
potatolicious
Contact customer service - Amazon has consistent the best CS in the industry.
It may be a genuine bug.

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stuaxo
About bloody time!

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nwh
"Cloud based" implies that some processing is going on remotely, which it
clearly isn't. It's just a download hosted on a CDN.

Are we allowed to just slap the term on anything Internet based now?

~~~
nodata
Isn't the idea that the mp3s will be available using the amazon cloud player?

