Warner to add catalog to Amazon's MP3 store
The label has announced a deal that allows Amazon to sell DRM-free tracks through its online music store.
The addition of Warner brings the number of DRM-free tracks on Amazon MP3 to 2.9 million, more than any other online music service. Amazon already has deals with many independent labels, as well as majors EMI and Universal.
Amazon Kindle selling on eBay for over $1,000
Those wishing to receive an Amazon Kindle book reader before Christmas are resorting to auction site eBay, and paying a 200 percent premium in the process.
Despite mediocre reviews from well-known technology pundits Walt Mossberg and David Pogue, consumers are eager to get their hands on the new device. The $399 Kindle has sold out from Amazon, and the company has stopped giving estimated ship dates.
AOL turns to Amazon for video downloads
After apparently sluggish sales at its own homegrown store, AOL has decided to end its own video download service and outsource it to Amazon's Unbox.
Although financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, both sites would split revenues from videos sold through AOL, the companies said. AOL's own service lasted for about one year.
DOJ ends its quest for Amazon sales records
A federal judge in Wisconsin said that the federal government's request for the records of sales by an indicted man raised some concerns, causing the US Attorney's Office to drop the subpoena.
Robert D'Angelo, indicted in October, is being charged with tax evasion and mail fraud. The feds were seeking to force Amazon to hand over the records of nearly 24,000 books the man had sold through the site over the past four years.
Amazon pushes Kindle book reader, but will anyone buy it?
As expected, Amazon debuted its $399 Kindle book reader at a Monday press event in New York. But will it be enough to finally help electronic books take off?
The retailer is ready to make a big deal out of the product as well: a letter from CEO Jeff Bezos greeted users visiting the Amazon.com front page beginning Monday morning. He says that Kindle was born of his interest in electronic books, and how they could be improved.
Amazon fires up e-book market with reader device
One of the nation's biggest online retailers is reportedly close to shipping its own electronic book reader, sources report.
Details of the actual unit are not available, although the 'Kindle' as it is called, apparently has an EVDO data connection. Reports seem to suggested that at least a dozen media partners will be available at launch.
Amazon Offers Freebie Deal for Blu-ray Movies
Amazon has begun offering a promotion that would allow customers to receive one Blu-ray move free when they buy another at full price. Although the sale is said to be for a "limited time," no expiration date was given. 72 movies in all are included as part of the deal, with prices on Blu-ray movies either $19.95 or $26.95. As would be expected, the least expensive of the two discs is counted as the free movie.
There have been reports that the discount has not been applied to some purchases, although Amazon.com said that those not receiving the freebie should contact the site to have their orders adjusted. In any case, such a move is not unexpected. With HD DVD now selling their players for as low as $98, pressure is on Blu-ray to answer back. While Blu-ray cannot match HD DVD on player price, it seems to have turned to its ever-growing catalog of movie titles to drum up sales.
New Zealand Actor Wins Rejection of Amazon 'One-Click' Patent
In a symbolic victory for advocates of patent reform, a part-time motion-capture actor who has appeared - albeit masked by CGI animation - in the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, has succeeded in striking down Amazon's patent claim of having invented the single-click purchase procedure.
Auckland, New Zealand resident Peter Calveley petitioned the US Patent and Trademark Office back in November 2005 to re-examine the 26 claims made by Amazon in what had been called, "Method and System for Placing a Purchase Order Via a Communications Network." By the following February, by soliciting private donations through his blog, Calveley had raised the nearly $2,500 necessary to fund the full re-examination. In May, his case was under way.
Amazon MP3 Music Store Opens Today
Amazon.com launched the public beta of its digital music store Tuesday, offering over 2 million DRM-free tracks.
The new music store could be seen as a strong competitor to iTunes, as it features many of the same artists without copy protection on the files. This means that not only can the tracks purchased from Amazon MP3 be copied, burned, and stored on multiple computers, but they are also compatible with most portable devices, including the iPod. All songs are encoded at 256 kilobits per second.
Amazon Sponsoring Web Services Contest
Amazon is attempting to drum up interest among developers for its Web Services offering by sponsoring a contest which looks for the best business venture that makes use of its technologies. A first prize of $50,000 cash, $50,000 in web service credits, and a possible financing offer will be awarded to the winner, while others could receive up to $5,000 in credits for their entries. All qualifying entrants receive up to $25 in web service credits for participating.
Web Services from the retailer actually has nothing to do with e-commerce on the site: rather, the engineering and technology back end is made available for developers to use in whatever form they would like. Over 265,000 developers have signed up to use the service since it was launched in July 2002, the company said. More information on the contest can be found on the company's website.
NBC to Sell Shows via Amazon Unbox
It didn't take very long for NBC Universal to find a new outlet for its programming following its break with Apple. The channel's shows will now be available through Amazon for the same price they were on iTunes.
The programs will be sold through Amazon's Unbox service for $1.99 USD per episode. Like iTunes, episodes will be available the day after they air on the network, however Amazon has agreed to let the company bundle programming together.
Amazon Considers Net Grocery Service
Amazon disclosed Thursday that it has begun testing an online grocery service to residents of a Seattle suburb. The effort mirrors similar but unsuccessful startups that appeared during the dot-com boom.
Those names -- WebVan and HomeGrocer.com -- read like a who's who of the dot com bust. Sales never managed to match the huge amount of capital investment the companies had to make in order to launch the services.
Amazon to Open Music Download Store
Online retailer Amazon.com on Wednesday confirmed rumors that it plans to open a music download store to compete with Apple's iTunes. Unlike competitors, however, Amazon will only sell songs in the unprotected MP3 format.
Amazon says it will offer millions of songs on the as-yet unnamed service, which come from 12,000 record labels. Most of these will be smaller, independent labels, as EMI is the only major to have agreed to license its tracks without digital rights management.
Amazon Settles Patent Suit with IBM, 'Methods' Debate Forestalled
Without disclosing how much money changed hands, Amazon has settled a patent lawsuit brought against it by IBM in October of last year, by apparently purchasing a license for doing what many online retailers may have thought didn't require a one: providing an interactive program online featuring a catalog, including ads, from which users can purchase goods.
These principal business methods were patented by IBM as far back as 1988. After Amazon.com devised an online business model for worldwide warehousing without thinking to check first whether IBM or another computer manufacturer had patented the idea first, IBM evidently sought to sell Amazon a license. When it declined negotiation, based on IBM's description, it declared that "IBM's property is being knowingly and unfairly exploited," and filed suit against Amazon for IP infringement.
Amazon Unbox Launches on TiVo
Exactly one month after announcing a partnership to deliver Amazon's Unbox movie download service to TiVo users, the two companies have put the service live for TiVo customers with a broadband connection.
Amazon and TiVo are billing the service as the first to offer both recorded television content and broadband content in a single interface. Service activation is done through Amazon.com, where the subscriber must enter information about their TiVo Series2 or Series3 set-top boxes.
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