Finding the Rhythm

AmazonMP3 and the line between convenience and annoyance

April 8, 2009 at 12:38 pm Leave a comment

Last night, I was looking for a years-old dance track in a very specific mix that I’d heard on Sirius/XM’s BPM. I went to all the places I might usually go… Junodownload, AudioJelly, DJ Download… Nothing. Since I check iTunes only as a last resort, my next stop was Amazon.com, since I figured that their AmazonMP3 service is emerging as a viable digital download service. Lo and behold, they had the track.

So, I did the simple “buy” process, and that’s where the trouble started. Instead of an MP3 file, an “AMZ” file was coming across the wire. WTF?!

From what scant information that was on the download page, I rather quickly surmised that I was being forced through assumption to use Amazon’s MP3 download tool software. I didn’t have this stupid tool, so the AMZ file wouldn’t open. I had to reject the download, go download and install their tool, and thankfully when I back-navigated to the download page, the download started again, only this time, the AMZ file was recognized.

This was annoying enough, but once the download tool did its thing, iTunes started automatically and crap was added into that, too, without asking me. Here’s a list of my issues with this process:

I don’t want help

First and foremost, single track downloads from AmazonMP3 are not supposed to require the use of their stupid tool. I’m a pretty savvy guy. I don’t need, or want, Amazon’s “help” to make sure I don’t lose a downloaded file somewhere on my hard drive, or to stick it into iTunes (and hence my iPod) if that’s where I want it to go. Why was I required to use it?

I believe at this point that the issue was that I’d tried the tool shortly after Amazon.com opened their digital store in order to collect some free promotional downloads. My account was still marked as a download tool user, so it assumed I still had it. After uninstalling it this time, it directed me to a web page that indicated my account had been unflagged as a user of the tool. Fair enough I guess. But no less irritating.

What is the point?

I find it interesting that other digital download stores don’t have this requirement. Beatport, Masterbeat, Junodownload, AudioJelly, DJ Download, and a litany of others hoping to be the next iTunes don’t seem to have any issue allowing single MP3 downloads as… Shock… Single MP3 downloads.

AmazonMP3 indicates that the use of the download tool is required for albums. Why? Other download stores simply stick all the tracks into a download folder, and let you have at it at your own pace. Others still bundle them into a ZIP file and let you download that. Again, what is the big deal here?

OK, I’ll venture a guess at answering my own question.

First, as a web developer, I understand the technical challenge of confirming successful download using web technology. The bottom line is that it’s not really all that possible, reliably, without a ton of effort. As a result, most download stores allow a window a time in which you can download the track, multiple times if necessary, before further access is barred (as a thin piracy barrier presumably). By developing and offering a special tool for the purpose, AmazonMP3 can easily confirm successful receipt of a file… They could even checksum the download if they wanted to, to ensure data integrity, before marking it “downloaded” in their database. On that level (and that level only) it’s a pretty smart idea.

Second, AmazonMP3 is setting a low bar for customers. One reason iTunes has been successful is because it’s crammed down your throat (you can’t easily use an iPod without iTunes), and because the store is fully integrated with it. It just… Works. Most of the first iPod customers were geeks, but these days, it’s your mom, granddad, uncle Harry, and that sort of person who need all the help they can get. If it’s not easy, they’ll be calling customer service in a heartbeat. AmazonMP3 understands this too.

But I’m still baffled why people who actually know how to use a computer are treated like some idiot who just turned their PC on for the first time sometime last week. Besides… If they can handle downloading and installing the download tool, they can probably handle downloading and using MP3 files.

Ask first

Perhaps the most annoying part of all of this is that I was never asked ahead of time to download the tool. Its existence wasn’t verified before an AMZ file was crammed down my throat that wouldn’t open. And at no point during the tool installation was I asked if I wanted iTunes integration.

Amazon.com just assumed. Assumed I wanted the software. Assumed I had it. Assumed I wanted to integrate with iTunes. I don’t, I didn’t, and I didn’t, respectively.

I have quite enough “assuming” from Microsoft (dear user, we are God, we know what you want to do with your computer better than you do, so we’ll just do it), and I don’t need it from Amazon.com too.

In closing

I’m very pleased that AmazonMP3 is becoming a viable force in the digital distribution realm. I’m very pleased to see more labels, more independents, more artists, more content going there. I’d love to see Apple’s strangehold on the music distribution market loosened a bit, and even though Apple has removed DRM from the iTunes Store, I prefer the MP3 format to start with and will seek it out before alternatives until something better comes along.

But if what I experienced last night is the customer experience AmazonMP3 wants people like me to have, they’ve just ensured that they will be the last place I look for music, just before the iTunes Store.

Entry filed under: Dance Music Industry. Tags: Amazon.com, AmazonMP3, Apple, AudioJelly, Beatport, DRM, iTunes, Masterbeat, MP3.