Amazon has launched their DRM-free downloadable music store. All files are high quality MP3s, and work in all MP3 players, including iPods.

This is especially cool when compared to Amazon's digital video store, Amazon Unbox, which is practically useless to me entirely because of DRM restrictions. Useless, that is, in the same way videos purchased at the iTunes Store are useless to anyone who doesn't own an iPod or can't run iTunes (such as Linux users). At least Windows users can do iTunes; Mac users can't go anywhere near Unbox.

Amazon MP3 introduces variable pricing, which allows for some tracks and albums to be priced competitively to iTunes. Apple has resisted variable pricing in favor of simple and consistent pricing models, but they've already been breaking it down throughout the iTunes Store, most notably with the introduction of $1.29 DRM-free alternatives to some $0.99 DRM-laden tracks. It looks like Amazon (and the participating record companies that must be ecstatic to have a major competitor to iTunes to play with) are trying to make a splash with mostly $0.99 DRM-free tracks, along with a few discounted tracks and albums.

With this initial offering, I notice that in some cases, A-MP3 track prices seem to be based on track length, with tracks less than 2 minutes priced at $0.45 and tracks longer than 6 minutes or so as high as $2. In contrast, iTunes tends to either offer long tracks for $0.99 (or $1.29), or simply not offer them for sale individually. If one track is half the album, you typically have to buy the whole album to get it at iTunes. (Amazon also has with-album-only tracks in some cases.)

John Gruber reports that Amazon MP3 includes a downloader app (available for Mac) that simplifies adding A-MP3 tracks to your iTunes library, getting about as close to the iTunes shopping experience as possible without owning iTunes. John also notes that A-MP3's selection seems as good as or better than iTunes' DRM-free selection. Selection (of DRM-free tracks) is still a problem in both stores, but Amazon has the advantage of being able to offer me CDs if what I'm looking for is not in their store. iTunes has a larger selection of DRM'd tracks, of course, but nothing that compares to Amazon's CD catalog.