Michael Robinson's new service, MP3tunes, is live. (Background post here.) It offers no-DRM MP3 downloads of indie music, striking a pose somewhere between eMusic and iTMS. Let's see how it shapes up.

Rather than develop a unique indie catalog, Robertson is exploiting the digital distribution program already created by CD Baby. That program also distributes enrolled CD Baby artists to other services such as iTMS. However, there is no editorial moat to cross at MP3tunes as there is in other services; all artists signed up to the CD Baby program are included. (Do not confuse CD Baby's digital distribution program with the CD Baby CD catalog; they are entirely separate operations run by the same company. An artist can be part of either or both. This means that an artist, or an album, that you find on CD Baby might not be found on MP3tunes.)

Because of this relationship, it is impossible to avoid comparing MP3tunes with CD Baby, and the comparison doesn't always go well for the former. For example, CD Baby offers many more ways to browse for artists and albums than MP3tunes does, including by "flavor," style/mood, geographic location of the artist, and even by wordless album art. The blame for MP3tunes's relatively bland browsing environment lies squarely with MP3tunes, not with CD Baby; CD Baby merely licenses the catalog, and has nothing to do with its presentation.

Searching is also less effective on MP3tunes than on CD Baby. A search for young classical pianist Chloe Pang returned five other artists before her; the first result was Samba Mapangala. Incidentally, Chloe Pang was bizarelly categorized under "mood music," not classical.

Perhaps the most glaring inadequacy at MP3tunes is the limitation on the audition streams: it's 30 seconds, just as in iTMS. At CD Baby, artists select which tunes get sampled, and a two-minute high-bandwidth stream is provided. Again, it must be emphasized that CD Baby is distinct from its digital licensing program, which is presumably tied up with major-label restrictions and current a-la-carte business models, all of which mandate 30-second streams. Still, the huge overlap of MP3tunes and CD Baby inventory practically requires that you open two windows—one at CD Baby in which to browse, and one in MP3tunes in which to buy. (To be fair, *every* track in MP3tunes is sampled, which is far from true in CD Baby.)

Shopping in this manner drives home the bottom-line value proposition of MP3tunes: It is the place to get CD Baby product on the cheap. I don't know if this is good news for artists. Their music is less exposed, on the whole, than it is at CD Baby, and it costs less. The consumer flow would naturally seem to move away from CD Baby toward MP3tunes. MP3tunes is definitely good news for consumers, despite its shortcomings. Tracks cost 88 cents; albums cost $8.88. I will continue to browse for new indie music at CD Baby. But now, before I even consider buying the CD, I'll head over to MP3tunes and see if it's available there. If it is, why do I need another coaster?