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Music Businesses Media Apple

Apple to Launch iTunes for Windows 607

Posted by CmdrTaco from the bracing-for-impact dept.
An anonymous reader writes "According to this AppleInsider.com article published earlier this morning, Apple has planned an event for next Thursday to formally introduce their iTunes player and online music store for the Windows platform."
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Apple to Launch iTunes for Windows More

Apple to Launch iTunes for Windows

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  • Moving on Other's Turf (Score:2, Interesting)

    by chadlnx ( 686255 )
    I'm very happy to see Apple taking an aggressive step towards the Windows consumer base. Many of these users are "stuck", so to say, to this platform and will appreciate this move. Both systems interoperating will also be a benefit for hardcore apple users who are stuck with windoze during work. I'm really rooting for Apple on this one. They will come to market before Microsoft. This will be interesting to see how Microsoft users react to someone actually coming forward (first, no less) with a product
    • How are Mac users any less "stuck" than windows users? From my understanding Apple has a monopoly on Mac hardware and software while Microsoft has a monopoly on software. That sounds like a "double stuck" to me.

  • The wait (Score:5, Interesting)

    by chia_monkey ( 593501 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @01:47PM (#7174994) Journal
    Great...now we have to wait a whole week just to see what is released. iTunes sounds good, but what else do they have up their sleeve?

    The bigger wait though is maybe a month or so...to see just how well it does. iTunes Music Store was a wild success the first day, the time to their milestone song sales, and so forth. All done on machines that command a mere 5% of the market share. So...what happens when the other 95% gets to play?
    • Answer: not much, at least not the first day/week. Sure, it just might come out ahead on the first day of the Macintosh launch, but nothing by proportion. The reason is that there are hordes of Mac users who download every new thing that Apple puts out, but it will take a while before iTMS for Windows can reach the same market percentage saturation.

    • Windows iPod users and the youth market (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Infonaut ( 96956 ) <infonaut@gmail.com> on Thursday October 09, 2003 @03:31PM (#7175881) Homepage Journal
      My guess is that Windows iPod users will be among the first guinea pigs. I have a friend who is an avowed Mac-hater. She recently received an iPod for her birthday and was absolutely giddy. She has stayed away from online music stores because she sees them all as inferior to spending hours on P2P systems hunting for the stuff she wants. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried out the Windows version of the Apple Music Store shortly after roll-out.

      Just before rolling out the dual-platform iPods, Apple was reporting that the Windows version of the iPod was selling at the same rate as the Mac version. With those rough numbers in hand, if you count on a similar conversion rate for the Music Store (I know, it's a wild ass guess), it seems that the Windows version should get at least as many customers as the Mac version.

      Those who argue that Mac users are zealots are ignoring a few things. For one, Apple is slowly convincing Windows users that Apple can make great non-Mac products. Second, Apple's brand image in the youth market is extraordinarily strong [wired.com]. If there was ever a market dominated by youth tastes, music is it.

      Reports of Apple arriving in the Windows music game too late ignore the fact that nobody else has been able to implement a Windows music service that consumers actually like. I don't think we'll see the Windows Music Store getting 20x the volume of the Mac version, but I do think it will be immediately profitable.

  • Creative Nomad compatibility? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Sean80 ( 567340 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @01:47PM (#7175002)
    I don't suppose iTunes would be compatible with anything but the iPod? Yeah, my fiancee has one, and they're small and cool and all, but goddamn if they're not expensive. So, I went out and bought myself a Creative Nomad. Does anybody know if there'll be any way to get iTunes songs onto it?
    • I had an old Nomad Jukebox that I tried plugging into my G4 one day, just to see what would happen.

      iTunes saw it immediately, and I was able to copy mp3s to it like any other device.

      It isn't as easy as the iPod (you can't have it automatically sync on 3rd-party devices) but it will work for you.

      Now, whether or not the Nomad supports AAC, I don't know.

    • I don't suppose iTunes would be compatible with anything but the iPod? Yeah, my fiancee has one, and they're small and cool and all, but goddamn if they're not expensive. So, I went out and bought myself a Creative Nomad. Does anybody know if there'll be any way to get iTunes songs onto it?

      I doubt there will be built-in support, so it won't be as easy as working with an iPod, but you can just add your existing MP3 collection to the iTunes Library, and continue using your Nomad as you have been.

      However, s
    • The only thing stopping creative from being able to play iTMS songs is Creative's decision to not support.

      The AAC format is an OPEN STANDARD.

      This is similar to what is stopping Apple from putting Ogg on the iPod... Apple's decision.

      Now, on the flip side...

      I don't suppose that the new music services using WMA files would be compatible with the iPod.

      No - and that is not Apple's fault. WMA files are a closed, proprietary standard.

  • I hope its better than Quicktime (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bogie ( 31020 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @01:48PM (#7175011) Journal
    Quicktime isn't exactly the best performing multimedia app going on Windows. Its a bit slow and files that play perfectly on low end Macs can play like crap on fairly high-end PC's.

    I also hope it themeable because by default the color it pretty ugly. I don't know that much about ITunes, but one thing I do know is that unless it obeys XP themes or like I said is themeable, its going to stick out like a sore thumb.

    Either way I still look forward to trying it out when I get a chance and also of course trying out the Music store.

    btw how are they handling the whole DRM thing?
    • I also hope it themeable because by default the color it pretty ugly. I don't know that much about ITunes, but one thing I do know is that unless it obeys XP themes or like I said is themeable, its going to stick out like a sore thumb.

      I'm sure it will stick out just as much as QuickTime does. It will not be themable. QuickTime Player is sort of themable in a way (the movie can contain a theme, which of course only works while you're playing that movie), but nobody uses this, and iTunes won't do it.

      btw
  • things offering music to download and you have to pay, I either want to buy the CD or download it (although prefer downloading). At least buying the CD you get something you can feel and look at for your cash.
    • I've heard this argument a lot, and I find the idea of a physical object to be quite overrated. I currently subscribe to Safari InformIT [informit.com] and I would gladly have this subscription to 10 outdated books lying on my bookshelf.

      I would gladly have a subscription to eMusic [emusic.com] (well, before Nov 8th maybe) than a stack of empty CD cases lying in my closet and whats left of my stolen CDs, scratched in my car.
  • Finally I can buy music online that is compatible with my Windows iPod.

  • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Market share... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kukickface ( 675936 )
    seems to be what everyone is focused on (or rather Apple's lack of it). I don't think the fact that there were other online music stores available for windows prior to Apple's launch of iTunes for Windows is a big deal. It isn't like once you pick a service you can't use any of the others. Most of them don't have subscriptions.

    Since iTunes for Windows will be (presumably) free to download and try why wouldn't someone give it a try for $.99?

    If they like the experience, then they will come back. Simple as t

    • Re:Market share... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by johny_qst ( 623876 )
      I have some faith that Apple's iTunes store for Windows will attain a fairly significant portion of the available market share for online downloads of music. My problem with all of the current and proposed offerings is the complete and utter lack of any music worth listening to. I enjoy at most 4 bands on major labels and for all of their releases I am not going to an online distribution mechanism as I really want to get my grubby hands on the artwork in the liner notes. Until the music industry gets the
  • Just in time to compete with the new Rio [rioaudio.com], iRiver [iriver.com], and Philips [philips.com] hard drive players.
  • I get an iPod. That clinched the deal.

    Sorry, Dell. Sorry, Creative. And all the rest. You can't give me the value that Apple can right now.

  • WooHoo! (Score:3, Funny)

    by PSaltyDS ( 467134 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @01:52PM (#7175062) Journal
    Now I can listen to my... Hey! What's a GPF? Blue screen of who? Where'd my music go?!

    Any technology distinguishable from magic is not sufficiently advanced.

  • Features I'd like to see (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SpiffyMarc ( 590301 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @01:52PM (#7175065)
    It will be interesting to see if Apple integrates a little of their Rendevous technology into iTunes for Windows, and allows people who have Mac/Win32 hybrid LANs at home share protected (or, just any) music between their Mac iTunes libraries and their PC iTunes libraries.

    Anybody know?
    • I'm also very interested in this, but there is an alternative in the meantime.

      Install the SLiMP3 server software on your Mac. It reads the iTunes database, and streams out on port 9000. The other player (Windows, Linux...whatever) opens up the stream on http://:9000/stream.mp3, and then you open a browser window to http://:9000 to control what gets played.

      It's not perfect - one hassle I found was that the client machine had often buffered so much that it took a while to respond to my commands on the web

  • Neato, but... What about the children?!! ;) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Chordonblue ( 585047 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @01:54PM (#7175089) Journal
    How will this sort of thing change the industry as it relates to their current target audience ie, kids? Let's face it, most of the music industry today is targeting ages from 13-17.

    How are children supposed to get credit cards and go online as easily as popping down to the mall with some extra cash? This means one of two things. Either a way will be found that children will be able to get credit more easily (pay cash by ATM for instance) or the industry will have to move towards a less age-centric approach to their sales.

    After all, if I know that I could get some of the obscure Pink Floyd or Supertramp Euro stuff out there online, I'd pay for it. I'm certainly not going to find that sort of thing at your local Circuit City!

  • what I want in a music service (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gonar ( 78767 ) <sparkalicious@ve ... minus herbivore> on Thursday October 09, 2003 @01:58PM (#7175134) Homepage
    when I pay my buck, I don't mind DRM (as long as up front I know it's there) but what I _do_ mind is a crappy 128bps recording.

    what I want is for my $.99 is:
    a: 1 (drm restricted) full CD quality track (that I can write to CD a limited number of times using their tool)
    b: 1 high bit-rate drm restricted mp3/ogg/wma equivalent for i-pod type devices
    c: 1 128bps (drm or no drm) mp3 equivalent for flash based mp3 players.

    that way they can be happy about controlling my access and I can still get decent quality sound..

    • AAC sounds a lot better than MP3; I could not believe it was 128 bit when I did the comparison on my home stereo. When Apple started supporting this with QT6 and iTunes4 on the Mac, I re-ripped most of my CDs.

      The iPod supports AAC, and I can hear the difference on the headphones.

      I'm not sure if other players can play AAC, but then Creative said nobody would want that format...
    • of a drm restricted file you could write to a normal CD? You could then rip the track anyway you want. If they water marked it there goes your quality. I guess the could implement the DRM on your cd burner, but frankly I don't want to see that happen just so some prick record exec can be sure he's getting every last penny out of the public he can.

      For $.99, I want the bloody cd audio track uncompressed, with no drm, and the right to share it as I see fit. At $.99 a song, I can buy a real CD used ($8-$10 f

    • Re:what I want in a music service (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gsfprez ( 27403 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @03:11PM (#7175585)
      an thusly, you're not part of Apple's target market.

      Sorry. They had to draw a line somewhere. Feel free to purchase the music in other places.

      I honestly don't understand how audiophiles and audiophile wanna-bees don't get this. This is a MASS MARKET targeted service. Its not targeted to audiophiles. Its not complicated or hidden or even confusing.

      What I think you're upset about is that you'll have to buy $18 cds to get the quality you want.

      That's part of higher quality - it often costs more than average mass market-level quality...

      Just like my PowerBook G4 12" cost me more than a Dell piece of shit laptop. The difference is that I don't bitch about it costing more - I know that i got a better product than the average consumer.

      Pick and choose what you want to spend money on - and buy what fulfills your need. And for the 897,592nd time - iTMS is not for audiophiles with $25,000 stereo systems.

  • mirror of the invite image (Score:2, Informative)

    by ydnar ( 946 )
    here [shaderlab.com]
  • Will the iTunes player have the same synchronization features that the apple one does so you can keep your iPod more in sync with your computer collection?

  • Finally, a good media player for Windows (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sutekh-Acolyte ( 695745 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @02:08PM (#7175196) Journal
    I've tried a lot of media player programs for Windows: WinAmp2, WinAmp3, Real, RealOne, Windows Media Player, Musicmatch Jukebox, and for iPod use, MMJ, Ephpod, XPlay.

    I'll be blunt here and say: They all fuckin' suck compared to iTunes. The short period where I had an iBook was a wonderful one, as I also had an iPod. iTunes is nearly flawless, besides the fact that (I think) it only works with iPods and no other portable music players.

    The current non-iTunes media players for Windows have horrible support for iPods. Ephpod, a program designed to be used with the iPods, is a buggy one. And it's the only decent one I've found for Windows.

    Why don't any others support playlists without requiring you to have a copy of the song for every playlist it is in?

    Forgive me if this is wrong, but my experience has been that when I use a non-iTunes media player program that supports portable players, when I go to create a playlist and transfer it over to the player (iPod, at least), the program copies the files in that playlist over even if they already exist on the player (the exact same file). I've only been able to avoid this using Ephpod, but I've had lots of problems with this program.

    I hope iTunes: Windows will mirror iTunes: Mac (the store too, but I'm referring to the program mainly).

    There are other reasons for my dislike of all those other media player programs... slowness, bugginess, cool features done completely wrong, terrible media library issues.... the list goes on.

  • No telling (Score:2, Insightful)

    by 222 ( 551054 )
    If apple can sell 10 million songs on a platform that only has 5-10% of the consumer market share, theres no telling what they can do with the windows market. I wouldnt be suprised if we saw 1 million songs sell on the first day.... Its more than obvious that the record labels dont listen to fans, but they do seem to listen to the almightly dollar, and I really think that this will be the breaking point for digital music distribution. Crisp, easy to obtain music delivered straight to your computer, and at
  • one week before panther.. apple is going for the double wammy!
  • iTunes for Windows, huh? Well pony up, Microsoft, let's see Windows Media Player for Mac!
    • They've got one...it sucks. Use MPlayer instead.
    • Here you go! [microsoft.com]

      Of course, the real bummer about that is that it doesn't support the range of codes the Windows version does. I don't run into that very often though, since most sites I view media from are smart enough to support Quicktime... Music video sites seem to be the ones stuck in the dark ages.

      Another interesting tidbit - it does not support UFS, and has to be installed on an HFS+ filesystem!

  • Finally... (Score:4, Funny)

    by bunhed ( 208100 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @03:05PM (#7175532)
    Now they just need to port the rest of OS/X to windows and we'd have something!! :)

  • The Big Picture (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sloth jr ( 88200 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @03:07PM (#7175549)
    Apple wants to make money. Here's what I think they hope will happen with the release of iTunes Windows:

    Sell more music

    Sell more iPods on which to play iTunes downloaded music. Integration will probably be seamless.

    Get general consumers less afraid of Apple the company, and more willing to consider buying Macs

    Sell more Macs, with aims to pull 10% market share in a year.

    sloth jr

    • Re:The Big Picture (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 09, 2003 @03:49PM (#7176119)
      Sell more Macs, with aims to pull 10% market share in a year.

      No, no, a thousand times no. Apple is ALREADY selling Macs faster than they can make them. Haven't you heard all the bitching about how it was taking a long time for people to get their new G5's and PowerBooks? That ain't because Apple doesn't want you to have them, man. It's because Apple is literally selling them faster than they can deliver them. And that's true even WITHOUT major universities buying new machines by the thousands.

      Apple doesn't give a FLYING SHIT about market share. They care about making products that are so good that a certain number of people are compelled to own them, and doing it in a way that allows them to invest heavily in R&D and still make a tidy profit.

      In a down-market, Apple has posted a profit in 20 out of the last 22 quarters WHILE STILL releasing entirely new products (like the G4 iMac, the iPod, the iTunes Music Store, and the G5) and continuing to enhance their existing products on an aggressive timeline. That's FUCKING AMAZING, man. If you know anything at all about business, that's absolutely amazing.

      • Re:The Big Picture (Score:3, Informative)

        by sloth jr ( 88200 )
        Apple's been posting consistently flat growth rates for years. The reason Apple's been having inventory supply problems is that they are being VERY careful about not oversupplying the channel: hot death considering Apple's mercurial product demands.

        Apple is most definitely concerned with market share [macminute.com] - it's the only way they can keep the platform from further being ghetto-ized. I'm not saying Boo about Apple's innovation - they "get it", already. They need to somehow get everyone ELSE to "get it".

        Apple

  • iTunes (Score:4, Insightful)

    by blackmonday ( 607916 ) * on Thursday October 09, 2003 @03:11PM (#7175584) Homepage
    iTunes is great because it's really a smart database application. There's even a tool that lets you do SQL queries against it. The DB smarts are what make iTunes so great - smart playlists - play only 80's songs without having to actually create the playlist. One smart playlist continually tracks the 25 most listened-to songs.

    The real beauty is the iPod integration. Every time I plug in the iPod it does 2 things: It starts charging and it completely syncs to the iTunes database. My iPod is an identical copy in every way, including MP3 metadata, playlists, EQ settings for every song, etc. Buy a song from the iTunes music store, boom its on your iPod too.

    The Windows version, if it remains consistent with the Mac version will blow Winamp out of the water. I can't wait. I'll finally have my music DB's synced at work too.

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