At the Macworld in January, Steve Jobs unabashedly announced that the iTunes Store had replaced Amazon as the world's fourth largest music retailer. Then, Apple's early April collaboration with EMI to remove DRM restrictions earned widespread praise both inside and outside the industry. So, I have every reason to believe that Amazon was motivated by jealousy when it announced the sale of DRM-free digital songs as a direct response to the iTunes Store (a joke, don't take it too seriously).
Unlike Apple, which adheres to the AAC format, Amazon uses the mp3 format. This means that all DRM-free digital songs sold by Amazon can be played on any music player in the world. Clearly, compared to the closed system of iPod + iTunes, Amazon can attract a much broader user base. Moreover, its partner is still EMI, which after collaborating with Apple, also partnered with VirginMega in France and through Scandinavia with several online retailers for similar DRM-free collaborations. Thus, whether in terms of openness or the quality of content, the digital music download service that Amazon is about to launch has a certain appeal to ordinary users. It remains to be seen if Amazon can break tradition after the public has become accustomed to the iPod + iTunes model and design an even more user-friendly purchasing method.