Free MP3s of every record you've ever bought with new Amazon Autorip

Amazon has just announced a new service called Amazon Autorip that will provide free mp3 versions of every CD or vinyl you've bought through the shop.

The new service will automatically go all the way back to 1999 and check all your music purchases from the store, including cassettes, CDs and vinyl then automatically add the mp3 versions to your Amazon Cloud Player library.

As well as being available to play online through the Cloud Player, tracks are also downloadable using the Amazon mp3 downloader. Tracks bought through the service are DRM free so work on any normal mp3 player. The tracks are encoded at a perfectly acceptable 256Kbps.

“What would you say if you bought CDs, vinyl or even cassettes from a company 14 years ago, and then 14 years later that company licensed the rights from the record companies to give you the MP3 versions of those albums… and then to top it off, did that for you automatically and for free?” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO.

Considering you could have long since lost the physical versions, frankly Mr Bezos, we'd say that's a very good deal.

Also revealed by the company today is its list of the top-ten best selling albums, which is topped by '21' then '19' by Adele. Although this is quite a remarkable feat, the list does have a strong skew towards modern music with only Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album being older than five years.

Will you be giving Amazon Autorip a go or are you shaking your head at having spent all your money with hmv/virgin/play/etc? Let us know in the comments.