Amazon MP3 Downloads: Don't use it.

[mysticwolf]

So yesterday I noticed Maroon 5's new album Overexposed on Amazon available for download for 5 dollars. I jumped on the deal, and the same thing happened that happened last time I tried to download a mp3 song from Amazon. I got charged twice for the same thing. 

I'll admit, it may have been partly my lack of experience with Amazon's mp3 service, but the service is definitely confusing and not consumer friendly. If you do not immediately download the mp3's after purchasing them, you can't download them. Also, you cannot re-download music that you have previously purchased. You must purchase them again. It's crazy. 

when I purchased the album, it prompted me to install the "Amazon MP3 Downloader." sounds like BS I know. The thing is, I already had it installed from a past mp3 purchase. It said I needed to install it again. After much confusion and trying to download it on the MP3 downloader that I already installed, it ended up being installed on my computer 5 times. 

I'm not clueless with computers. I usually know what I'm doing.

I had the album purchased, and the songs were downloading to the Amazon MP3 Downloader. Once they finished, I tranfered them to iTunes. Yes, there they are, in iTunes. But that is the only thing in iTunes.  My other music is nowhere to be found in my library. But the new album is definitely right there, and I quickly listen to a couple songs before trying to figure out why my other music isn't in my library.

I close and reopen iTunes, and now my new album is nowhere to be found, but all my other music is in it's proper place. But the new album is not in iTunes, and not in the Amazon MP3 folder that it originally downloaded to. I search the entire hard drive for the album, and it's not there. And of course the album never uploaded to the Amazon Cloud Player, so I can't get it from that. Amazon's shitty MP3 service won't let me download it again without paying for it again.

After hours of searching the internet for solutions and becoming very frustrated, I just decided to purchase the album again, since it was only 5 dollars instead of the normal 13 or 14 dollars it would have been. 

I re-bought the album and downloaded it, tranferred it to iTunes without any problems. I quickly proceeded to back up my new album on a flash drive in case anything happened. I gladly would have paid 10 dollars for the album, and I guess that's what happened. I'm not really that upset since I ended up spending 10 dollars on the album, which is pretty decent considering the album was released two days ago. I will just consider the extra $5 a donation to Maroon 5 and the album's producers for an excellent album.

Not looking for advice, I've already figured it out, but it just taught me to be cautious when purchasing MP3's from Amazon. I want to give y'all some advice: unless you are very familiar with Amazon's MP3 service, I suggest to stay away from purchasing albums from Amazon if you have other options.