The iPhone 4 may be one of the very met portable music player ever, but when it comes to getting the best value mobile music it seems that iTunes is not the best place to go.
I randomly chose the following albums / collections at Amazon and iTunes and came up with the following UK prices. The fact that you can download from Amazon straight to your iTunes library takes the hassle away as well.
The Epic Masters (Shakin Stevens) Amazon £27.99 iTunes £34.99
Aphrodite (Kylie Minogue) Amazon £7.00 iTunes £7.99
Set The Night On Fire (The Doors) Amazon £43.49 iTunes £44.99
Perception (The Doors) Amazon £37.99 iTunes £39.99
Recovery (Eminem) Amazon £5.00 iTunes £7.99
The Fame Monster (Lady GaGa) Amazon £5.79 iTunes £8.99
And yes, I really did search for a Shakin Stevens collection…
Only buy from Amazon and Play.com as I prefer DRM free and they are good value.
Thanks for that. The embarrassing Shakin Stevens collection is only £15 on Play (10p a song!) Time to relive some childhood memories…
And I bought three, yes three, compilations CDs of 80s music!
I rarely buy digital downloads. I usually find cheap CDs on Amazon. Feels good to actually have a physical product in your hand and also you can save it in whatever format you want.
Whats the difference in compression rates/playback quality though? It’s not necessarily like for like.
Amazon use 247kbps compression. Typical file size about 6-7mb. I think Play.com use a higher bit rate.
Amazon is excellent. iTunes for on device purchase or films or tv programmes.
I prefer to buy CDs and then convert it myself.. can choose my own bitrate and format, not to mention DRM free..
Funny, my son who is 11 is more than happy to download music whereas I, old man, prefer to buy the actual CD from a shop