Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com on Tuesday announced the beta launch of Amazon MP3, a digital music store that offers over 2 million DRM-free tracks, more than a million of which are priced at 89 cents.

Amazon said the top 100 best-selling songs will usually feature the 89 cent price point, and the top 100 best-selling albums will usually cost $8.99.

Most albums at the store will cost between $5.99 and $9.99.

Amazon MP3 launches with support from two of the four major labels -- EMI Music and Universal Music Group -- as well as over 20,000 independents, including Alligator Records, HighTone Records, Madacy Entertainment, Sanctuary Records, Rounder Records, Righteous Babe Records, Sugar Hill Records and Trojan Records.

The store offers Amazon's "one-click" purchasing, as well as an Amazon MP3 Downloader application that automatically adds purchased tracks to iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries.

Wired News reports that some of the 256 Kbps MP3 tracks sold by Amazon will feature a watermark, but the data included will only indicate the track was purchased from Amazon, and will not identify the consumer who made the purchase.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3cz4h8

http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/09/some-of-amazons.html

http://tinyurl.com/2jvtxd (Amazon MP3)