With a speculative launch date of October having been and gone, Amazon today finally opened its online MP3 store to UK customers.
The iTunes-rivalling store has been highly anticipated due to its promise of over five million DRM-free songs, and its initial shop front has instant appeal - brand-new albums are being offered from £3 each, and singles start at just 59p.
The tracks are available to download as 256kbps variable-bitrate MP3 files and can be played back on virtually any device.
Despite its relatively late arrival on the market, Amazon MP3 is expected to leapfrog similar services from the likes of Play.com and 7Digital as a result of Amazon's sheer quantity of users.
But will it be enough to challenge Apple's dominant iTunes? Its obvious disadvantage, we feel, is that its interface is far-less intuitive than the likes of Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Zune Marketplace.
Nonetheless, it's another positive step for an increasingly DRM-free marketplace.
Source: official Amazon MP3 store
