Tuesday 21 December 2010

Credit Where Credit Is Due...

A few posts ago, I complained that Amazon UK had very few free MP3s for download compared to Amazon USA (see Christmas @ Amazon - Bah. Humbug!).

Free place to sleep
Originally uploaded by Brad Stabler
Well, credit where credit is due because today I saw the following Tweet from @AmazonUK:
For a limited time only, we've got over 1,200 free tracks now live on site. Yes, over 1,200. Take a look. http://amzn.to/fluniI
Let's get the negatives out the way first. The vast majority of the free tracks are from artists that I've never heard of and, given the lack of customer reviews on most pages, it looks like hardly anyone else has heard of them either. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing - giving unsigned/little-known artists a major platform like Amazon to set out their stall is good. But, compared to the many well known names available on the US site, it's a bit frustrating to see so many pages of artists that you don't know.

Now the positive; there's good stuff in there - including a few Christmas tunes. First, some non-Christmas tunes that caught my eye:
And some Christmas tracks:
Thought I should post theses now rather than wait until Friday because of the "limited time" comment. Let me know if I've missed any I should be downloading.

4 comments:

Amanda Wilson said...

Ok xmas bonus here not 1 but (1321 when i was on) free tracks what more could you ask for. Something for everyone - yep from mr(wee guy lol) Bieber to well Brian May/Therapy/Tom Jones how could you not find one song in here you like!!!!!

Ok so not many well known but its always great hearing some new stuff.

One to look out for is Norma Waterson/Eliza Carthy - really love Elizas work great musican (Nornas her mother) first saw Eliza play violin on a Paul Weller show she's such a talent!!!!! (as is her whole family)

For the geeks in us theres Aspects of Physics (Ping or Cummulative Error) lol :) enjoy

David said...

Hello Amanda

Glad you enjoyed exploring Amazon's free downloads. And thanks for pointing out a few I'd missed. Can't say I'm upset to have overlooked Justin Bieber but thanks for highlighting Brian May, Therapy and Eliza Carthy - I'll need to go for another look later.

JT said...

Aww nuts, can't download these from Canada either. :( Still, this is great news for you guys! And maybe this is a sign that Amazon will someday bring free downloads to the rest of the world.

David said...

Hello Jeff

Sorry Jeff. At least you had the decency to warn us we might not be able to access some of your downloads. I'm guessing Amazon Canada is worse than Amazon UK at giving stuff away.