Amazon MP3 will go head to head with Apple’s iTunes Store in the international music download market this year. Amazon MP3 is Apple’s nemesis, offering DRM-free music and, guess what, all major labels have a partnership with them. That is, Warner, Universal, Sony BMG and EMI. Amazon MP3 has 3.3 million songs with PC and Mac support. This is a smaller list than iTunes’ catalog of over 6 million songs. But whereas iTunes songs are encoded in 128 kbps with only a fraction (the DRM-less iTunes Plus) encoded in higher 256kbps, all Amazon MP3 songs are encoded in non-DRM 256kbps format. Amazon MP3 songs sell for $.99 each or less. Songs from iTunessell for a higher price in Europe compared to the U.S.

[via mashable]