Everyone's talking about Amazon's latest press release announcement and I'm no exception. Later this year, Amazon will launch a digital music store "offering millions of songs in the DRM-free MP3 format from more than 12,000 record labels". It seems like the iTunes Store will have a real competitor for once.

A few questions remain though. How much will each DRM-free MP3 cost? Will there be staggered pricing like there is on iTunes with the DRM and DRM-free songs (99 cents for DRM'd songs, $1.29 for DRM-free songs)? I seem to think there will be a higher price on DRM-free tracks considering this quote from the press release:

[...] said Eric Nicoli, EMI CEO. "They have been an important retail partner of ours, and we are delighted they will be offering consumers EMI's new premium DRM-free downloads in their new digital music store. [...]

Emphasis being on "premium DRM-free downloads". I don't know about you but whenever I see or hear "premium" that translates to expensive. Time will tell.

I'm also wondering what the whole digital music store will be like - completely online based with a small application to receive downloaded files (similar to Unbox) or a more iTunes-like software solution?