What Can Other Stores Do That Apple and Amazon Can’t?

For most consumers, however, there has to be a really good reason to switch from their current favorite online music store; it’s a bit of a pain to create a new customer account, after all.

So what, then, do competitors offer that Apple and Amazon don’t?

First, know that every major online retailer offers a fairly decent shopping experience. It may not be identical to what you get from the iTunes Store or Amazon MP3 Store, but the shopping and checkout process should be relatively easy to do. And once you enter your credit card the first time, it should be just as quick to check out from a new store than from your old favorite.

All these stores let you shop and order from any web browser, which makes them preferable to the iTunes Store, in the eyes of many users. Being forced to use proprietary software to spend your money is so 20th century, and Apple’s competitors have moved beyond that to strictly web-based offerings; web-based stores make it easy to sign into your account from any computer, not just the one on which iTunes is installed. So if you dislike the iTunes software requirement, this may be reason alone to switch your allegiance to another retailer.