So what’s the world leader in ecommerce up to these days? They’re promoting this amazing form of audio technology called the “Compact Disc,” maybe you’ve heard of it…

You might think I’m kidding, but I’m not. Earlier this week, the news leaked that Amazon will launch a new service called Auto Rip, which will give Amazon customers a pretty awesome bonus, for FREE.

Here’s the deal: Amazon is going to reward CD buyers with free digital versions of any CDs they order on Amazon, instantly. Of course, they have to be “AutoRip eligible.”

The kicker: Amazon is going to carry this offer retroactively to include any CD you’ve ever purchased through Amazon since 1998! Pretty amazing, right? As long as you didn’t have terrible musical tastes back then…

Check out the 411 on AutoRip here. Warning: These videos or horribly cheesy… like ‘Folk Hits of the Mid 70s’ box set infomercial cheesy.

Unexpected Bonus Offers Work

As a marketer, I have no idea how the rights and royalties for a deal like this might work out; it seems expensive to say the least.

But as a consumer, I don’t freaking care. Not at all.

That’s why I think this is a stellar marketing move. From the consumer side, this is getting something extra — a bonus — for doing what you were going to do anyway.

It’s super convenient for people who find ripping CDs to be mindnumbingly tedious. If you want to rip CDs to your smartphone, it’s kinda of a pain in the ass. I work on a MacBook Air, which doesn’t even have a CD/DVD drive… so ripping CDs is super inconvenient for me, to say the least.

My take is that Auto-Rip is definitely going to give Amazon a slight edge in the MP3 market that it didn’t have before. If you’re going to buy an MP3 album, why not just buy the CD and get both?

More importantly, if you do like to buy physical CDs, wouldn’t you be more likely to buy them through Amazon now?