Friday, January 11, 2013

AutoRip -- YES! Thank you, Amazon!

In completely coincidental fashion, I just blogged recently about my struggles with being a "music collector" and one problem I've had in recent years--with everything moving the way of the exclusively digital--is that I often miss having the CD and artwork when I buy an album on iTunes or some similar digital music outlet. In fact, I often will want to buy a CD but wish I could have the music immediately like you can with a purchase via iTunes or AmazonMP3. Thanks to digital retailers, we don't have to wait in line at a music store or try to hunt down a CD the day it comes out. Now we can just purchase and download it at midnight on release day! All is right with the world.

I love how some indie artists will allow you to order a CD or vinyl album from their website and then email you the album digitally right away too. That, my friends, is the way to do it. Heck -- I've seen some artists send full digital albums weeks in advance if you just simply preorder it (This method threatens albums to be "leaked" by insensitive and irresponsible music listeners--ruining it for the artist and the fans alike--but I digress...)

Just today I was perusing Amazon.com, like I tend to daily--I'm kind of addicted to their store, sales, and selections (I admit it. haha)--but, in all honesty, I was grabbing a link for our reader review page of Sanctus Real's Pieces Of Our Past: The Sanctus Real Anthology when I saw this interesting little graphic:

Uhhh... AutoRip? Could that be what I think it is? Sure enough -- and I swear I'm writing this as nothing more than an elated fan and don't mean to sound like a commercial -- AutoRip is just what it sounds like. If you buy select CD's (like, actual physical compact discs) that display that "AutoRip" logo on the page, they'll give you the mp3 download IMMEDIATELY... for FREE! According to the instructional video on their website, if you've bought any music on Amazon since 1998 that is eligible for this program, they're including it in your Amazon Cloud player too.

Again, I can't help but geek out about this. I've always wished you could just instantly get a digital copy of your music when you order the physical disc online and I'm stoked to see a big online retailer like Amazon.com has debuted this option.

Now... if we could only just get free Kindle books with a paperback purchase (...hey! how about applying that "any purchase since 1998" gig to books too!) and maybe even digital movies (OK, I'm getting greedy here)... ;)

Does this AutoRip feature excite anyone else?

Posted by John DiBiase at 12:11:52 AM in JFH Staff (108) | Comments (15)

Comments

1. Ben said...

Honestly, no. But that's because they only open up their digital music store to Americans. Anybody here in Australia misses out

1/11/2013

3. Cortney+Warner said...

I like the idea for sure. I typically go for the physical copy when it comes to music, but it's tempting to just go ahead with the digital copy, just because I'm impatient. ;) This gives the best of both worlds.

1/12/2013

5. John DiBiase said...

@wonderkins Well, yeah. I don't think you got my point though... IF you are just fine waiting to obtain a CD to rip it, that's cool. For those who want the music the moment it releases but don't just want mp3s but also want a physical CD as well, this is great. I order almost all my CD's from Amazon though. If you're a more casual buyer than I can see how uneventful this is.

1/12/2013

7. Joe said...

This is cool indeed!
I got an email from Amazon saying 10 of my previously purchased CDs are now available in the cloud to stream anywhere!

I think this may make people think twice before purchasing albums digitally...for a few dollars more (sometimes) they can get a physical copy and still are able to listen to the songs immediately without doing any extra work.

1/13/2013

9. Zach James said...

For me it was great. I found out about it because I suddenly got a whole cd that I had bought physically to give as a gift. I didn't have any of the songs, and they just showed up. I just thought it was cool. (the cd was Fireflight's "Now")

1/29/2013

11. Wayne M said...

Well, I just found out 2 disappointments with Amazon today when I ordered 2 albums. First disappointment, Sanctus Real's deluxe version is only available in mp3 (no big deal). Red's new album (yes, I bought it, keep in mind that I had $20 gift credit given to me). Anyway, the deluxe version is available on both CD and mp3, however, you will not get the autorip when you buy the CD. Getting the CD is a no-brainer though because it's cheaper, but still, that is lame. Oh well. I'm sure the autorip is determined by artist :^) - not Amazon.

2/5/2013

13. Wayne+M said...

I'll probably toss the tri-fold case. It must be similar to Anberlin's case. Being a loyal Sanctus Real fan, I had to have the deluxe version. Otherwise, I probably would have opted for the CD even though the CD version also doesn't have the autorip. So far, I've only benefited from past purchases like Fair's "Disappearing Word" which is an amazing album. I still like Amazon though. They've never steered me wrong with customer service.

2/5/2013

15. Wayne M said...

Yeah, Label is what I meant - not artist because I know they don't usually have control of what get's done with albums unless they go independent.

2/5/2013