Okay, it's not free - here's their take:
"For music CDs, we will pay you 45% of the suggested retail price you selected. For
example, if your selected selling price is:
$8.99, we pay you $4.05
$10.99, we pay you $4.95
$12.99, we pay you $5.85
$14.99, we pay you $6.75
$16.99, we pay you $7.65
$20.99, we pay you $9.45"
This is way more than you'd get from a record company. The only pisser for me is that you have to be in North America to do it. Perhaps a move is in the offing...
I also like how pro your CD has to look and be before they'll move it for you - bar code, shrink-wrapped, printed on the spine etc. Here's what they say: "Each title, whether book, CD, video, or DVD, must also satisfy Amazon.com's suitability standards. These standards currently relate to quality, value, subject matter, production standards, and compliance with intellectual property laws."
In other words, if they take your CD, it isn't going to be advertized with a lot of no-hopers.
There's this too, which adds to the reality factor:
"If we find that there is insufficient customer demand for your title, we may choose to no longer hold copies in inventory. In such a case, we'll return all copies to you. You will pay all charges (including packaging, insurance, and freight) incurred to ship copies from the Amazon.com Advantage distribution center to your location. Although the title will no longer be part of the Amazon.com Advantage program, we would be happy to discuss other ways that we might sell the title."
In other words, if you can make it work, it's galaxies better than mp3.com, although you could use mp3.com as a way to make more people aware of your music.