Oct. 23, 2007 at 12:12 AM , Categories: Merchandise, Internet, Music

You may have noticed that nowhere on Spook Central, be it on the Store page or elsewhere, are links to iTunes, Rhapsody, or other places where you can legally purchase and download music. This is because I detest DRM-encumbered media files. However, I am happy to report that there is finally a way to legally purchase DRM-free music files. Well-known and well-loved (or well-hated, depending on who you ask) internet retail giant Amazon.com has just launched a new digital music service called Amazon MP3. This one is supported by some, but not all, of the major music companies, so you *might* find your favorite well-known artists, plus lots of indy artists. (Please note: From what I've read on the Amazon.com site, their "Unbox Video Downloads" is DRM-encumbered, so only their music download service is recommended.)

Before I get to the list of Ghostbusters songs and albums available, let me give you a quick rundown on how the service works based upon my experience and from what I've read in the documentation on the site. This will give you the good and the bad in a quick, brief manner.

Availibility: Amazon MP3 purchases are limited to U.S. customers. (source)

Pricing: Most songs are between $0.89 and $0.99, and most albums are between $5.99 and $9.99. (source)

Quality: Every song on Amazon MP3 is encoded at 256 kilobits per second, which gives high audio quality at a manageable file size. (source)

How Purchasing Works: Each song or album purchase is done instantly through the 1-Click ordering system. Each song or album must be purchased individually. So you can't add a song to an order containing physical goods, nor can you select multiple songs and make one purchase unless you purchase an entire album. Each purchase of a song or an album is an individual order, and you will receive an order confirmation e-mail and see individual orders in Your Account for each item you purchase. However, consecutive orders for songs/albums that cost less than $5.00 may be combined into one charge and appear as a single charge on your credit or debit card billing statement. Your Amazon MP3 Music purchases can only be downloaded once. After you have successfully downloaded the file to your computer at the time of purchase, it is recommended that you create a backup copy as Amazon is currently unable to replace any purchased files that you delete or lose due to a system or disk error. (source #1, source #2)

How Downloading Works: The first time you purchase a song or album from the Amazon MP3 store, you will be asked to install the Amazon MP3 Downloader application (see below) before completing your purchase. When purchasing individual songs, you have the option of downloading them directly without using the Amazon MP3 Downloader. To do so, select "Skip installation and continue" when prompted to download the MP3 file directly to your computer. However, to purchase an entire album, you are required to use the Amazon MP3 Downloader. (source)

Amazon MP3 Downloader: The Amazon MP3 Downloader is a download manager designed to streamline the process of downloading and organizing the music you purchase. Using the Downloader allows you to download entire albums with one click, queue up as many songs or albums for download as you like, and pause, cancel, and resume downloads. As an added benefit, you can configure the Downloader to automatically import/transfer the songs you download from AmazonMP3 into iTunes or Windows Media Player. The program is available for Windows 2000/XP/Vista (v1.0.1, 607 Kb) and Mac OS X 10.4 or higher (607 Kb). (Please note: the site repeatedly just says that the Windows version is for XP & Vista, but I can confirm that it works in Windows 2000 as well.)

Downloading To Amazon MP3 Downloader: The way the files are handed over to the downloader is as follows: Amazon will tell your browser to download a .AMZ file. Your browser might pop up a box asking you if you want to open the file with the associated program (.AMZ files are associated in Windows with Amazon MP3 Downloader) or if you want to download it. This is an encoded file that can't be read by itself, so there's no reason to "download" it - so "open" it with Amazon MP3 Downloader.

A Note About Amazon MP3 Downloader: Something I found out that I have no other place for, which may or may not be useful for you to know: Each time the program is run, these files are created in your Temp directory (locations below are for Windows 2000):
C:\WINNT\Temp\AlbumArtError.gif
C:\WINNT\Temp\AmazonMP3AlbumArt.gif
C:\WINNT\Temp\AmazonMP3Logo.gif
When you select Help | Show Help in the program, this file is created and shown in your default browser: C:\WINNT\Temp\AMZHelpFile.html

Free Songs: In order to test out the service and/or the downloader program, Amazon has made some songs available for free. You must have a valid credit/debit card on file in order to download the free songs. The "checkout" process will ask you to choose a credit/debit card to pay with, but no charges will actually be made to it.

Ghostbusters Songs: You can do a 'Ghostbusters' search for a full list, but here's what I found as of 10/23/2007. There are a few remixes and covers (a TON for Ghostbusters, Disco Inferno, and Higher & Higher) that fans might be interested in... and that's pretty much all there is. Songs that are recommended are in bold.