Download Amazon MP3 tracks directly to Sony mylo 2 (COM-2)
Although Sony has always defined the mylo 2‘s download capabilities to exclude support for direct-downloads from subscription services and online music stores, Amazon MP3 is actually an unstated exception.
After Pocketables reader Craig notified me of his success with purchasing and downloading a song (with album art) directly to his mylo 2, I fired up the mylo’s NetFront browser and tried it for myself. Read on for a quick look at what works . . . and what doesn’t.
I’ve had Timbaland’s "Apologize" playing in my head for a few days (damn those Atonement trailers!), so I searched for the song in Amazon’s "MP3 Downloads" section.
Tapping the "Buy MP3" button brought up the sign-in page.
Then came the "Get the Amazon MP3 Downloader" page (more on the Downloader below). I scrolled down and clicked on "Skip installation and continue."
To complete the download, all I had to do was check the box to agree to the terms and tap the "Download Song" button.
After a purchase confirmation was displayed, the mylo 2 prompted me to save the track and accompanying album art in the drop box, the default folder where downloaded and received content is stored.
I tapped "Save" and the $0.89 download (5.7MB) began.
The song (256kbps bitrate) was downloaded within minutes.
Tapping "OK" closed the browser, launched the music player, and automatically began playback of the purchased track.
If I had chosen "Cancel" instead, I could have continued browsing the Amazon MP3 store and accessed the song later through either the music menu or the drop box (Tools -> Drop Box).
Since music purchased from Amazon MP3 is DRM-free, the mylo 2 can also be connected to a computer, where the song can be transferred to an unlimited amount of computers or handheld devices.
And that’s it.
Now that you’ve seen how single-track purchases and downloads work on the mylo 2, let’s take a look at what happens when buying whole albums and multiple tracks at once.
Oh, wait. You need the Amazon MP3 Downloader to do that. The Downloader, a little app that "offers customers the simplest way to download and import multiple songs in one easy step" and automatically adds downloaded content to iTunes or Windows Media Player, is required for buying albums and "queuing up multiple song purchases for download." And since widgets are all that can be installed on the mylo 2, the Downloader is a no-go. And without the Downloader, only single songs are up for grabs. More than one song can be purchased, of course, but one song must be downloaded completely before another one is bought.
Amazon MP3 on the Sony mylo 2 may not be as polished or full-featured as iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is on the iPod touch and iPhone, but it’s still a nice feature that puts the device ahead of some of the competition.
Thanks for the tip, Craig!