Amazon Launches 'AutoRip', Offering Free Digital Versions of Purchased CDs
Seeking to enhance its profile among music buyers, Amazon today announced the launch of AutoRip, a new service that offers customers who purchase physical CDs through Amazon free digital copies of their purchases through Amazon Cloud Player. The service is also retroactive, meaning that customers who bought any of the thousands of eligible CDs through Amazon since 1998 will automatically find digital versions of their past purchases in Cloud Player.
When customers purchase AutoRip CDs, the MP3 versions are automatically added to their Cloud Player libraries, where they are available, free of charge, for immediate playback or download – no more waiting for the CD to arrive. Additionally, customers who have purchased AutoRip CDs at any time since Amazon first opened its Music Store in 1998 will find MP3 versions of those albums in their Cloud Player libraries – also automatically and for free. More than 50,000 albums, including titles from every major record label, are available for AutoRip, and more titles are added all the time – customers can just look for the AutoRip logo.
AutoRip tracks are encoded as 256 Kbps MP3 files and are playable on a wide variety of devices including the iPhone and iPod touch, and can also be accessed through any web browser. AutoRip tracks do not count toward users' storage limits for the Cloud Player service.
![amazon_autorip amazon autorip](https://images.macrumors.com/t/MmzKN2VWyXOs9dymnstpSHs1U6Y=/400x0/article-new/2013/01/amazon_autorip.jpg?lossy)
Amazon has been working for years to eat into Apple's dominant share of the digital music market, offering discounted prices and matching or exceeding Apple's features such as iTunes Match with its own offerings. With the new AutoRip service, Amazon clearly hopes to attract many longtime customers who have purchased physical CDs from the company by offering free digital versions to introduce them to Cloud Player.
Popular Stories
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...