14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon has been the second biggest MP3 store in the US for years now and no matter what it's done, it hasn't been able to topple Apple or even get too close.
But, even as the world is slowly moving away from buying music, Amazon is ramping up its fight with Apple by making it personal, with the launch of a new iPhone-specific MP3 store.
"Since the launch of the Amazon Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod touch, a top request from customers has been the ability to buy music from Amazon right from their devices. For the first time ever, iOS users have a way do that," Steve Boom, vice president of Amazon Music, explained.
To get around Apple's 30 percent revenue share requirement, Amazon built a web-based store. The site makes ample use of HTML5 and is optimized specifically for the iPhone.
As such, it works pretty well, considering that it's not a native apps, you can swipe left or right, everything is geared towards touch and so on.
Amazon has always relied on low prices to get ahead and that's also true with the MP3 store, iTunes users should probably take a peek at Amazon's site before buying new music.
There are some caveats though. For one, if you plan to listen to the music you've just bought, which you probably do otherwise you wouldn't be buying it on your phone, you'll need the Amazon Cloud Player app installed.
If it's installed, you'll be redirected to it if you hit the Play or Download button and you'll be able to listen to your purchases. However, you'll only be able to do this with the Amazon Cloud Player app, if you want the music to show up on iTunes, you need to download it to your computer and then sync it back.