Study: iTunes, Rhapsody grow in brand awareness

Amazon, Rhapsody, and iTunes were the big winners in a study of which music services are most popular and recognized by people who download music.

At the same time, Ipsos, a market research firm, announced Wednesday that its survey of 1,249 digital music buyers showed eMusic didn't see any growth in the public's awareness or usage. MTV and VH1 actually fell in those areas, according to an Ipsos spokesman. One of the reasons may be because MTV shut down its own service and last August teamed with Rhapsody on a joint venture.

The research by Ipsos did not measure sales but was instead a survey of people who download music. The study looked at which sites people say they visited, liked, used, and knew about.

"Amazon had a strong first year...comparable to any of the top brands after iTunes," Ipsos said in a statement. "Moreover, Amazon actually matched iTunes in user satisfaction."

Apple's iTunes still fared best among the music services and saw increased growth. Rhapsody did as well "although some of this growth may have been trickle-down from growth of digital music overall."

That's an important point because the number of music services has shrunk mightily since Ipsos performed it's last study: Sony's Connect, Yahoo Music, MSN Music, and MTV's Urge are just a few missing from the scene.

According to Ipsos, Amazon's strong first-time appearance doesn't mean that it's making up ground on iTunes. Both Amazon and iTunes are apparently taking share from lesser-known brands.