Open Letter to Amazon
This blog post is a result of a couple of facts:
- Amazon contact page is a bitch to find
- Once I found it and skipped the sign in because I did not have an account the form required me to have an order number. Of course I did not have one. So it refused to send squat.
- While excited about the new MP3 Download service there is in my mind a major problem with it.
So here is what is now an open letter to someone at Amazon. I hope some smart individual there will see it. Be great to have our listener feedback on it as well!
So here is what I attempted to email Amazon:
To Whom It May Concern
Firstly, your links to contact you are like finding a needle in a haystack.
But the reason that I made the effort is that I really, really, really wanted to use your new MP3 download service. We covered the news regarding this service in our podcast (The Global Geek Podcast). We talked about it and were very excited about the DRM free music on offer at a great price 
and we really hope that it is a resounding success. So I have come to the Amazon MP3 Downloads site prepared to set up an account and get downloading. I am usually an iTunes user for this, and I have paid for all my music.
I was bitterly disappointed to learn after a bit of digging around, that I can not download a full album unless I use your downloader software “Amazon MP3 Downloader”. I don’t want your software. There is no reason that I should not be able to purchase an album without it. I would rather download each song and pay more. I can buy single tracks without out it - why not the whole album?
I realize that you are trying to give people the easiest way to download songs:
“The Amazon MP3 Downloader offers customers the simplest way to download and import multiple songs in one easy step.”
Why is the Amazon MP3 Downloader required to download albums but not songs?
Most geeks don’t and won’t use your software. We don’t trust vendors’ software on our systems, you can give us all the guarantee’s in the world, we don’t care. In addition to that it’s just another piece of software that no doubt loads at start-up, taxing our already; pushed to the limit machines. This is not something that I want that is for sure. I am very selective with what ends up on my machine. I am smart enough to “que” my own downloads thanks. So what about the option to opt out of your software? That gives the people that need a bit of help the option and the geeks the freedom of knowing they are not only getting DRM free but also getting it how they want to as well.
This is a huge problem with these emerging markets - you want to give us DRM free but you want us to use your downloader, or your player or something else that is as good as DRM. I am not going to buy anything from Amazon MP3 Downloads as a result. I will also mention it on the show. This is bad form.
I am back to iTunes, yup sure I use their software to download - but I am stuck with that since I have an iPod and they no doubt track everything I listen to and download as a result. But I was hoping that the freedom to back up my tunes with DRM free tracks, where and when I wanted to was here. It seems I was wrong. Please get your crap together. Loose the software and I am in boots and all! I have no doubts what so ever that many, many others feel the same way. For now I’ll pay more, use iTunes and accept the DRM rather than use a downloader.
Thanks but no thanks.
Disappointed
Dave Gray
Host: The Global Geek Podcast
The Podcast Network
http://globalgeekpodcast.com
So GGP’ers what’s your take on this issue. Am I talking through my hat or have I got it right? Amazon staff, feel free to leave your comments as well.
Dave
Get the latest Global Geek Podcast, we gave Amazon MP3 Downloads a good wrap, seriously…
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Seconded. After listening to the show (ok, while I was listening to this week’s show) I was poking around on the Amazon site trying to figure out how to download what I wanted. I came across the exact same scenario.
The only thing I can think of is that they might be trying to ensure a “reliable” download. But to be honest, if your connection is so unstable that it can’t handle 60 or 80 MB worth of a download for an album, you probably won’t be trying to buy large quantities of music online.
Amazon! Hear our call!
October 4th, 2007 at 2:13 am
Personally I would never purchase and download an MP3 anyway. I want a “real item” in my hand when I purchase something, so I will continue to buy CDs and import them into iTunes myself. I don’t even let iTunes automatically import album artwork. It would be very rare for me to buy only one song–I can only think of about three times that I ever bought singles–but if for some reason I wanted to I am sure that I could find it on a “Best of” CD somewhere instead.
Installing specific “vendor” software that only works on their site? No. Never. Sorry. I don’t even want to use iTunes, but it is the easiest way for my to sync up my iPod. I’ve disabled just about everything I can in iTunes, so if they’re tracking what I’m listening to, then they’re doing so nefariously. Which they may be doing anyway… You ever see those “video” sites that require you to download their “players”? Yeah…right.
—–
On another topic:
Small peccadillo of mine is the usage of “loose” and “lose.”
For some reason a lot of people, and I find this more prevalent with Americans, use the word “loose” when they really mean “lose.” When you “loose” something, you set if free or unrestrain something. When you “lose” something, it means you no longer know where it is, or you mean “get rid of” something.
December 19th, 2007 at 6:49 am
Not getting a lot of traffic on your blog, but a couple of comments:
iTunes is a 35MB+ application download, REQUIRED to buy a song from iTunes. Amazon’s MP3 downloader is a 500k application REQUIRED for albums but not song purchases. Yet you will categorically not buy from Amazon, but (perhaps grudgingly) continue to use iTunes? Seems hypocritical at best to me.
Also, though you say “it’s just another piece of software that no doubt loads at start-up, taxing our already…”, the Amazon downloader only is started when you purchase from the Amazon.com site.
I’d find your views far more helpful if they were either factually correct or mutually consistent. Oh well.
December 19th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
@Erich
For a start you have no idea how much traffic our blog gets, thanks for your opinion though.
You might think that using iTunes is hypocritical, however as I say in the post - I have an iPod - Therefore iTunes is a 35MB+ download REQUIRED to put music on it and more. I would have to use iTunes regardless of the fact that I bought music from them or not. No, I am not going to download an additional application just to buy music when it is totally unnecessary. It integrates with nothing, it is not a music player it is nothing other then a downloader. Although it will transfer downloads to your iTunes library. But iTunes does that already. Call it hypocritical but it is necessity. In addition to that I am quite willing to buy music from Amazon but I’ll be damned if I am going to use their software to do it, period.
It is “started” when you make a purchase… that makes it memory resident, is it not?
Thanks for your opinion about mine and your judgment about my consistency. If you bothered to even take notice this was a letter to Amazon about my concerns about the system, it was an open letter, not a review or anything else. I wanted Amazon to actually answer my concerns. They could have a great service that doesn’t require a download. That is my point! No one from Amazon has responded to it so I can assume that they don’t care.
So before you land here and comment on a story that is 3 months old; I suggest that you A: Be honest about where you are from and B: If you are speaking for Amazon then say that and answer my concerns.
I would use your service if there was no download and secondly I believe the application to be unnecessary, you yourself (Amazon) justify it by saying that it makes downloading more efficient. That seems very, very lame to me and most other geeks out there I can assure you. Thanks but no thanks, I can be efficient all on my own.
December 28th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Agreed. I recent;y received a gift card for Amazon. The downloader requires me to upgrade my OS. I haven’t needed an upgrade for 7 years. Seriously, I don’t buy anything or receive anything that needs that kind of upgrade. Why should I move 200+ GB for a 500k useless program? For me, it’s not efficent at all. For $3 more I’m buying the cd’s from the label, I can convert them myself.