Amazon.com became an ally and a rival to Apple on Wednesday with plans to launch an online music store featuring songs without anti-piracy software.
The Internet retailer will compete with Apple's iTunes digital music store while siding with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs in a campaign to eliminate digital rights management (DRM) software in digital songs.
Amazon.com said on Wednesday it is launching an online music store this year featuring millions of songs without copying limitations.
The online retail giant said it had a deal with British-based music publisher EMI Music to include its music catalog as well as those from 12,000 other music labels.
Jobs ignited an industry-wide debate earlier this year with an open letter calling on recording studios to do away with DRM in music bought online.
EMI has long been a proponent of digital music and is a backer of liberating songs from anti-copying technology.
"It could give Jobs more leverage," analyst Michael McGuire of Gartner Research said. "Not only do you have the largest online music store, iTunes, clamoring for DRM-free content, you have one of the largest music services asking for the same thing."
EMI is among the world's top five record studios.
For Amazon to become a serious contender in the online music business and be able to influence recording studios it needs to quickly get on par with iTunes, according to McGuire.
Amazon is one of the largest sellers of music CDs and combines popularity with the ability to target shoppers with reviews and recommendations based on purchases.
"The traffic at Amazon gives them potential," McGuire said. "A come-on to steer people to their online music site."
Amazon said its music store will offer millions of songs exclusively in MP3 format playable on a variety of devices including Apple iPods and Microsoft's Zune.
"Our MP3-only strategy means all the music that customers buy on Amazon is always DRM-free and plays on any device," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and chief executive.
The announcement failed to indicate what Amazon plans to charge for downloads, which cost around US$1 at most digital music sites.
"Over time, we believe Amazon's strong brand and leading e-commerce platform would position the company well in the download market," Lazard Capital Internet analyst Colin Sebastian said.
Last month, EMI said it would offer songs by Coldplay, Madonna and a host of other stars for download without copy protection as part of a deal with Apple's iTunes website.
"I applaud Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com for making this move," said Eric Nicoli, chief executive of EMI Group.
"Their arrival in the digital music market will offer even more consumer choice and will be a big advance in addressing the lack of interoperability which has frustrated many music fans," he said.
EMI last month launched a new premium download service, in which the company began offering retailers DRM-free music to sell in the audio format of their choice up to CD quality.
"EMI is releasing the premium downloads in response to consumer demand for DRM-free, high fidelity digital music for use on home music systems, mobile phones and digital music players," the music group said in a statement.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)