Amazon has fired an unexpected shot in the ongoing digital music wars between them, Apple, Google and players such as Spotify and Rdio.

A new feature of their super popular Amazon CloudPlayer is AutoRip.  This function will allow purchasers of physical CDs to also receive MP3 downloads and streaming copies (via the CloudPlayer) automatically at no additional cost.

What makes this really interesting and exciting is that this feature is being matched retroactively.  Whatever supported albums you’ve purchased from Amazon.com since 1998 will automatically be available via this service.

In our first hand experience, this wasn’t too fruitful, as we’ve only bought one album through Amazon in the past. What is interesting, however, is that if you bought albums as a gift, they will appear in your history. Of course, any albums bought third-party or used will not count towards your total.

For full details, check out the linked press release.

Source: Amazon.com.