Amazon's shot at iTunes heard round the world

Amazon will roll out its music store internationally this year, offering music that is free of digital rights management copy-protection technology that is more a weight on music sales than a benefit to the industry.

Amazon MP3, which the online retailer launched last fall, now has a library of 3.3 million DRM-free MP3 songs from 270,000 artists for download.

Amazon is clearly making a run at iTunes, said Phil Leigh, host of Inside Digital Media. "If anybody can do it, they can." The move likely has the enthusiastic backing from the music industry. "The record labels are trying to give them an edge, too, because the labels have become resentful of the fact that iTunes has dominated digital music sales, and they're not comfortable with that."

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