Amazon Reportedly To Offer Downloads With CD Purchase

As anyone who markets music to adults knows, Amazon.com is an important source of sales.  But the online giant has lagged significantly behind others in the digital music and video space and Wall Street has of late been punishing them for it.  Amazon, however, may be about to make a move designed to end it’s second tier status.

According to an article in Newsweek, Amazon may soon unveil a service where customers who buy a CD will also receive a digital copy that they can transfer to a portable player. "It’s the most well-thought-out, consumer-conscious strategy I’ve seen yet for digital music," one insider told Newsweek. "Several other music execs confirm that Amazon is hoping to launch later this year, before its busy Christmas season…’They realize that a very significant percentage of their sales are in physical media products that will almost certainly migrate to digital,’ says Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney."

Great idea, but if everyone knows about it how long will it be before others adopt the strategy?  With Apple controlling 80% of the download market and Google rumored to enter the the competition, can this possibly be enough to give Amazon a significant share of the digital marketplace?

Amazon does have a reported 55 million customers who already trust the company and have input the credit and delivery info.  Perhaps Amazon plus the new wave of improving portable mp3 players will finally be enough to nudge more late adopters into the digital camp.