Amazon MP3s come to the UK

After what seems like an age, Amazon have finally launched their mp3 downloads store for the UK.

Such a big player striding on to the UK market must make a few people nervous, huh, 7Digital?

'That's right', says 7Digital, 'it's going to make some people real worried':

“Amazon’s entry into the market is good news for the digital music consumer and will help accelerate the migration from physical format to digital. This is another victory for MP3 and another blow for iTunes – which doesn’t offer MP3s at all,” [says 7Digital’s CEO Ben Drury].

Actually, 7Digital, we were thinking that it might be more of a worry for, you know, smaller companies also flogging MP3s rather than iTunes, given that Amazon and iTunes have been fighting head-to-head in the US for quite a while without Apple whimpering.

But 7Digital aren't worried, because they've got something that Amazon don't offer:

“7digital.com’s sole aim is to provide consumers with a first rate music delivery service because that’s what we are and what we know. Their [Amazon's] MP3 downloads are only 256kps quality so they are not delivering the high quality 320kps MP3’s unlike 7digital.com,” he noted.

Oh, yes: when the consumers come comparison shopping for mp3s, they'll notice that extra 64kps in the big grid they draw up of rival offerings, and that'll swing it. It's not like an mp3 download is a spur-of-the-moment purchase where you'd buy the thing at the first place you think of, is it?

Given that 7Digital are one of those companies who think their customers need a logo to get what an mp3 even is, are they really pinning their hopes on the same consumers understanding why the slightly larger number even marks a difference?