Looking to bridge the divide between the CD and the digital download, Amazon has launched a new service named “AutoRip” which will provide you with free MP3 versions of the CDs that you have bought from the company.
The service isn’t just for new music either. Amazon says that if you have bought an AutoRip-eligible CD from as far back as 1998, it will automatically add it to your Cloud Player account (which has 5GB free) without you having to lift a finger.
At launch, the service is available on more than 50,000 albums on every major record label, but Amazon insists that it will add more over time, fixing the AutoRip logo on both the album or single artwork, and alerting you below its “Add to Cart” buttons.
Amazon only appears to have worked out music deals with labels in the US, so it currently only offers the service to “customers with billing addresses in the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who have a U.S. bank-issued credit card.” However, Amazon says that it will be coming to other countries later in the year.
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It’s a small thing for Amazon to offer, but because it knows you are highly likely to rip a CD to your hard drive and put it into your iTunes library, it wants to help you do it. By storing it in its Cloud Player service, Amazon hopes that you will be more likely to keep using its own services, rather than those of its rivals (including Apple and Google).
Of course, Amazon offers apps on both iOS and Android (and its own Kindle Fire tablets), as well as Samsung TVs and Roku players, so you can access your music purchases wherever you wish.
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