Update: The President and CEO of eMusic today disputed the claim made by USA Today as to Amazon's current market position.
It seems that Apple is finally seeing some formidable competition in the form of Amazon’s MP3 download store. Jeffrey Graham of USA Today reports that Amazon MP3, an exclusively DRM-free digital sales outlet whose lifespan goes back only about half a year’s time, “has quietly become No. 2” to Apple’s top placement, far surpassing the industry’s prior second-place institution, eMusic.
At present, Apple claims a music catalogue of some 6 million songs, one-third of which is now delivered DRM-free. Those tracks comprise collections sold by record giant EMI and various independent labels. Amazon’s gross count to date ranks at an impressive 4.5 million, all of which are sold devoid of software-based copyright restrictions.
The ascent of Amazon MP3 can most likely be credited to Amazon’s de facto brand recognition, which derives from its online retail prowess honed over a large span of time, as well as its proven ability to expand its digital offerings tremendously over the course of only several months. When juxtaposed against the history of Apple’s iTunes Store, Amazon MP3 is without a doubt the long-awaited reckoning for Apple CEO Steve Jobs.