Windows iTunes Sells A Million Songs In 3.5 Days 1007
ajkst1 writes "According to an Apple press release, the iTunes Music Store has sold 1 million songs since its release on the Windows platform on October 16. Also of note is the 1 million downloads of the iTunes music program itself. When the iTMS was first released, it took a full week to sell a million songs. The store has now had 14 million songs purchased and downloaded since its original launch in April."
go apple! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:go apple! (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder how many corporations are still blocking the napster.com domain, and what effect that's happening on their business?
Re:go apple! (Score:5, Interesting)
itms offers indie labels... does a rather good job too - at least according to cd baby. source is here:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=2221 [insanely-great.com]
Is it for me? (Score:2)
If I don't have a mc, windows, or an ipod, am I left out in the cold?
Re:Is it for me? (Score:2)
They also try to force those of us with Windows or a Mac to have an IPOD. Fortunately, you can burn the songs off to CD an unlimited number of times, so you could always rip them back to your standard mp3 player. Too bad they didn't make it easier.
Oops, did I just violate the DMCA?
Re:Is it for me? (Score:2)
Re:Is it for me? (Score:2)
There's no ripping involved. If you want an MP3, you get an MP3.
MCH
Re:Is it for me? (Score:2)
Re:Is it for me? (Score:2, Funny)
Um, no. But we understand you had to throw that in there for some karma. Thanks.
Re:Is it for me? (Score:2, Funny)
If I don't have a mc, windows, or an ipod, am I left out in the cold?
I know. I tried to install iTunes on my IBM PC XT, but couldn't jam the CD into the 5 1/4" drive. Insensitive clods!
Note... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Note... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Note... (Score:3, Insightful)
iTunes is close to making a lot of sense. They let you purchase one song at a time, or an entire albumn, your choice. And you can download it. And you can burn the mp3s/AAC files to a cd if you want.. LEGALLY!
Many of us aren't against the RIAA nearly as much as we're against paying $17 for a cd that has been on the market for over 10 years, and only has 12 songs on it. On iTunes I can download that same albumn for under $12. Or I can pick an
sales figures (Score:2, Interesting)
Wrong! (Score:4, Informative)
Incorrect.
Fact: There were 1 million downloads of iTunes for Windows.
Fact: Between Windows and Mac there were one million songs in 3.5 days.
Re:Wrong! (Score:2)
1 million downloads?
99% of which are already playing on the radio. bleh.
Re:Wrong! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Wrong! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wrong! (Score:5, Informative)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/qtcomponents/
iTunes uses Quicktime for decoding. I haven't tested it yet (I'm still at work).
Re:Wrong! (Score:3, Interesting)
Patience.
What they want you to think (Score:3, Insightful)
but if you read it carefully it just says the 1M are "by iTunes users," i.e. including existing Mac users.
thoughts (Score:2, Insightful)
Count me as a customer (Score:4, Informative)
I guarantee you there will be more of these (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, I think iTMS for WIndows is going to be much bigger than most people have given it credit for. M$ can dismiss is all they want, but unless they have something better to offer I'm not seeing much viable competition. It amazes me that after Apple overwhelmingly demonstrated to the marketplace that customers don't want subscription fees or cutthroat DRM, there are still companies out there trying to make those business models work. Oh well, meanwhile iTunes will rise to the top fast.
MS conerns (Score:2)
So, do you think Apple can hold out if Microsoft decided to bundle "Miscrosoft Music Store" in the next version of Windows Media Player? Would people bother to download iTunes to use iTMS, or would they just use what wa
I don't really like it (yet) (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't think saving $2 on an album is that great of a bargain when the compression is lossy and you factor in the cost of disc and jewel case.
Quicktime and iTunesHelper are both loaded at computer startup and happily sit in the background, guzzling memory (iTunesHelper is 3 MB, for example). Does this crap really need to run when I'm not using it?
Arbitrary restrictions on burning
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I don't really like it (yet) (Score:3, Informative)
Your average joe probably never checks the options and just expects things to work. Activating an option while obvious to some, there is still a good number of people for whom it is not obvious and would probably get more people phoning Apple for help than needed.
Re:I don't really like it (yet) (Score:3, Interesting)
So it's likely that Apple will release faster/smaller versions for Windows with time.
Re:I don't really like it (yet) (Score:3, Insightful)
They didn't. Take a close look at the middle "window move" button. It never changes from the two-window "resize" icon, which is what Firebird is when it's maximized (right now.)
When I click that button, and go to a "not-full-screen" window, that button is a one-window "maximize" icon.
Apple didn't re-define anything; they just didn't make their app maximizable... and it's hardly the first app to do so. (Winamp,
Did you catch the patent? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yet another worthless, obvious patent. Sigh.
Thusfar, my only complaint is: (Score:2)
Oh, and streaming rendezvous(sp?) from onr machine to another borked the firewall/router/basestation/toaster so hard I had to go power cycle it...but I can't blaim iTunes without a little more testing.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Rock On! And A Question For The Community... (Score:5, Interesting)
Once I get my finances situated, I'm off to download iTunes and get started. It's about time that someone realized that yes, there is in fact a good online music business model.
Now, how to go about getting them to sell my band's music on the store? Since we don't have a label, the split of sales would be a bit different, I'd assume there would have to be a different deal structure worked out. Does anyone else here on
Re:Rock On! And A Question For The Community... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Rock On! And A Question For The Community... (Score:3, Informative)
As far as I know Apple is only dealing with record copanies, since it's a pain to deal with individual bands. Apple could indirectly get into some *more
Re:Rock On! And A Question For The Community... (Score:4, Informative)
Not to rain on the parade here, because the CD Baby deal is still awesome. Here's how it works. Artists are getting 91% of what CD Baby gets from the iTunes Music Store(iTMS). In general, Apple gets 34 cents from each 99 cent track, leaving CD Baby with 65 cents.
65 cents * 91% = 59 cents to the artist.
Now the artist has to pay CD Baby $40 up front to process a CD. So the artist starts out $40 in the hole. After selling 68 songs on iTMS the artist has made back the $40 and goes into the black. Since a CD probably has around 11 tracks on it, that is 6 CDs worth of songs. Not bad at all.
So iTMS and CD Baby absolutely rocks for an independent artist. It's almost definitely better than going the conventional route of getting a major label to press CDs and promote you.
Re:Rock On! And A Question For The Community... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah yeah, sue me for not being completely coherent! :-)
I believe that I was basically trying to get across what you have said. The service provided by CD Baby is a great deal, but possibly just short of being better than a deal through a large mainstream music label. Look at it this way, with CD Baby you will almost certa
looks good so far... (Score:2, Interesting)
only wish they would break the country boundary (yes I know that's not easy)
Busy. (Score:3, Interesting)
Crazy like a Fox (Score:5, Insightful)
So you can get iTunes for free. Ho-friggin-ray. And you can rip MP3's to your hearts content, so they work with *all* MP3 players.
Wait - Windows Media Player rips to WMA by default. Oh, it does MP3's, but you have to pay more to get it to work better than crap.
Ok, so what. Yeah, it's a good app.
And it lets you burn CD's - music and data, right from the playlist.
For free.
And all the other machines in the house - they can stream off that, so I just put all my MP3's on one box, put iTunes on the other computers, and stream from there.
Ok, that is kind of cool. Check out the online store. You know, I've only wanted to buy 1 song off this album. Cool - I just did. Only cost $1 - that's not too bad.
And I can burn it to a music CD, or put it on 2 more machines.
Then comes the fall. You know, I wanted to get an MP3 player anyway. For some insane reason (you had an additional $300), you get an iPod.
Don't need a Mac, and it works just fine with your Windows and iTunes.
But hold on - turns out you can use this iPod thing with digital camera and upload the pictures to the iPod, and from there to the computer. Oh, but you need a Mac for that.
You know, what do I use my computer for? Email, a few games - huh, that Aspyr company is porting over the ones I really like anyway -
Man, and this other stuff comes free with a Mac - a movie editor, a browser that blocks popup ads by default, there's less virus problems -
Hm....
Now, I don't think everybody will consider gong to the Mac just because of the iTunes store.
But having "hip 20-to-30-somethings" tell us how switching to the Mac is "the bomb" really didn't work.
So Steve Jobs is changing tactics: Go ahead, take a bite of this apple. It's free! It will just give you knowledge! Or, barring that, a pretty kick ass music player!
Next thing people know, they realize that they've been living naked under Windows for a long time, and start to make themselves aprons from leaves.
In this case, by plucking them from the Apple tree.
I'm curious to see what will happen from here. Remember: Apple doesn't need to dominate the market. It already makes a profit with its products now, and it happy to do so.
This will just give it the chance to make more profit - and maybe show people what they've been missing along the way.
Of course, this is just my opinion - I could be wrong.
The success of this sales model (Score:5, Interesting)
Is XServe is handling the traffic? (Score:2)
Re:Is XServe is handling the traffic? (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, Apple also uses Quicktime (once again, their own product), likely coupled with some in-house custom app to do the encoding and maintenace of the store, so you could say that when using iTunes, you're using Apple software from end to end, save for your OS if you happen to be stuck on a Windows box.
Of course fo
Re:Is XServe is handling the traffic? (Score:3, Informative)
Perfect for One Hit Wonders (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to rip all my cd's and then go on gnutella to grab the few tracks that I don't own but listen to all the time, or single songs from artists who I generally dislike (i.e. Lose Yourself by Eminem) - now I just buy those songs for 99cents from iTMS, avoiding the "must buy a full cd" syndrome that always stopped me before, and suddenly I own every song on my computer for just a few bucks.
In fact, the iTMS taught me something that I hopey the RIAA will learn one of these days: Good Karma is fun.
Golly gee, RIAA! (Score:5, Flamebait)
One thing they've screwed up (Score:2)
Apple's Digital Hub Strategy (Score:5, Insightful)
How many of you scoffed when Jobs mentioned the "digital hub"? I did. "WTF is a digital hub? The Mac already does all of these things he's talking about. Simple ways to work with your digital camera, for adding new hardware, etc" Yet they come out with the iPod, a non-computer/non-software item. And it sells like nuts. Then they sell it to Windows users. And now with iTunes Music Service, it's become quite evident Apple is interested in more than being simply a computer manufacturer. People scoffed at the idea, but one million songs in a few days is nothing to laugh at. Can't wait to see what happens to iPod sales (and conversely iTMS sales) in the holiday season.
WOW!!! A Million Songs! (Score:3, Funny)
No, sorry, my bad. It wasn't Apple. It was me. I admit it. I was the one who bought those songs. I just wanted to see if their servers could withstand a vicious one-man slashdotting...
It can - apparently the iTunes server's not running Windows. But I'll try again tonight, this time with my friend Chris buying the same songs simultaneously. Then I'll get Greg and Dave to help me buy whole albums at a time, and pretty soon, Steve Jobs will crumble in terror and BEG us to stop our vicious assault on their site!
Steve Jobs, I warned you - I've got my VISA, and I'm ready to
take.
you.
down.
You didn't care when I started buying iPod after iPod in an attempt to exhaust your assembly line workers in a one-man iPod Slashdotting. Well this is different. This time, I'm serious and I've upped my VISA limits. Your site is toast. Get ready to rumble!
Signed, your pal
Hackmaster Fred
I don't mean to troll, but (Score:4, Interesting)
Well... (Score:4, Insightful)
1. Adopted open standards
2. Used and contributed to open-source programs
3. Brought music to the net (legally and successfully)
4. Brought their hardware up to x86 speeds
5. Brought UNIX to the desktop
Innovate, don't regulate (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sure all the people who purchased songs did so because they were in fear that the RIAA was going to sue them, not because Apple has heavily promoted a new way to conviently acquire just the music they want.
Score: Technology 1, Lawyers 0
What a dumbass (Score:5, Interesting)
Anybody remember when Jack Valenti said this:
Permission to be smug, sir!
Yep... I downloaded those ONE MILLION SONGS...! (Score:4, Funny)
Glad I had lot of CDRs lying around....
Proactive dissing (Score:5, Funny)
1) Apple blew it. They came out with iTunes for Windows too late. Ha ha hah! Buymusic.com is already there first. The vaporous Dell and Microsoft services are much better on paper than than this pathetic Apple offering.
2) AAC? Beh. Give me the open standard. Give me WMP! Support standards, Apple!
3) Black turtlenecks? Who wears black turtlenecks?
4) 99 cents a song? What, do you think I'm RICH?! Give me songs for free. Artists don't get much money when they go through the iTMS anyway, so why should I give the artists anything at all? Answer me that, man.
5) They're just trying to sell iPods. So that means that even if I get the iTunes app for free and use it, Apple is screwing me over. Yeah, they're screwing me over. That's it.
Nomad works with iTunes (Score:5, Informative)
I don't know where people are getting the idea that you need an iPod if you have iTunes. I've been using a Nomad IIc flash-player, and iTunes recognizes it and works with it through the USB interface just fine. Is this some FUD or what?
Rephrasing the headline (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No need to click! Here's the Text! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Run DMC (Score:2, Informative)
I've found 5 albums
"Raising Hell", "King of Rock", "Back from Hell",
"Run-D.M.C.", "Run-DMC: Greatest Hits"
Re:Run DMC (Score:2)
Re:Run DMC (Score:2, Interesting)
Unless Apple decides to make radical changes to their service model, a Windows-based version of iTunes will still remain a closed system, where iPod owners cannot access content from other services. Additionally, users of iTunes are limited to music from Apple's Music Store. As I mentioned earlier, this is a drawback for Windows users, who expect choice in music services, choice in devices, and
Re:Run DMC (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Run DMC (Score:3, Informative)
1. No DRM on the stupid file at all.
2. Use an open standard DRM technology (existing, new, or open its own AAC DRM scheme M4P).
Re:Wrong (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wrong (Score:5, Funny)
You're new here, aren't you? :-)
So, Slashdot pirates... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, here it is. Have you switched to this excellent, high-quality p2p file-sharing program or are you still leeching off of Kazaa? I think it's a legitimate question, because iTunes is just the tip of the iceberg with this kind of success. I'm very pleased that Apple is leading the charge.
Will you actually stand behind your ideals, or does it turn out that you've just been justifying your guilt for leeching all this time?
Re:anal retentive (Score:2, Funny)
slashdot -- old news for nerds, now with twice the repetition! Now with twice the repetition!
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, sure good analysis and point about bandwidth. But hey, iTunes music store is as much about exposure for Apple and selling iPods etc, as it is about profit.
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:4, Funny)
[/Sarcasm]
Been three days. Mostlikely, the number of ITunes downloads will slow down, but the buys should keep going fairly well.
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:4, Insightful)
Except that it's totally different. The dot-com days were typified by huge numbers of venture capitalists, stupid ideas, and fly-by-nite products. Apple is a huge company (yeah, yeah, they're dying just like *BSD, we know, we know) with a lot of backing, and they have other products for sale which they do make a profit on.
Also, how do you know they're not making a profit from iTunes? I haven't seen any figures on what the licensing costs. I'd imagine they must be making _some_ profit on it - they're not stupid. They don't need to make a huge profit, since like I said before, they have other sources of income (AlBooks, anyone?). They can break even and still be in good financial shape. But I suspect they're not even close to being in the red.
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:5, Insightful)
Errr... I mean Apple and BSD are dead.
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:5, Interesting)
On National Public Radio a representative from Apple was talking about the fee structure. 99 cents per song is distributed thusly:
So the record companies have no physical product to produce, they don't have to pay for the software, or the bandwidth, and they make 80% of the money for doing essentially nothing. Of course Apple has to promote the iPod, they have to pay for the software development, the bandwidth, the data storage etc and they have to split their share with the artist (who once again seem to be considered a line item expense rather than the people who produce the art and product)
Don't fool youself into thinking this is supporting the artist. The record companies are just as corrupt as ever.
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:4, Funny)
Well, how else will their lawyers get paid? Settlements from 12 year-old girls and college students only go so far...
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Funny)
Oh I know! In fact, this reminds me of those damned crooks at [evil corp]. I order something from them, pay $50 for it, and UPS only sees... what, $2, $3.50 max? I mean, UPS packs, ships, and verifies delivery of everything I ordered. Yet [evil corp] is getting over 90% of the money. And for what? [Evil corp] didn't have
Re:You got that right (Score:3, Insightful)
How can I steal my own stuff? [rimbosity.com] After all, it's mine, I wrote it, and I can do whatever the fuck I want to with it, including sharing it with whomever wants it.
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Interesting)
Now call me crazy but somehow I think it costs the labels who buy their discs in millions a wee bit less to do it, add power bills and salaries for employee's etc (although this could and should be a damn near fully automated process, 3 employees and a shipping crew could do everything to produce the discs for thousands of artists in a week), and let's say that cuts the margin to more like $0.20/disc fo
They plan on profiting with iPod sales. (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple is doing the reverse. Selling the "software" (or music in this case) for cheap while (hopefully) profiting on sales of iPods and iPod accessories.
Re:They plan on profiting with iPod sales. (Score:3, Informative)
And this is coming from somebody that hasn't touched an apple for > seven years.
Props to you, apple.
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Interesting)
While not a landslide for a company like Apple, it is still respectable and probably takes care of the overhead.
Where apple makes a killing is on the sales of the ipod music player. Expect sales of these to go through the roof now that there is a windows client (especially with Christmas around the corner) and it's no
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Lot's of sales... No profit... (Score:3, Interesting)
The nice thing, hopefully, about the iTunes Music Store is that once it stops being an active profit-bringer because of the iPods, it still is at least breaking even. So Apple isn't really paying any money for it to run. It's just kind of self-sufficient.
Moreover, even if they don't make any money from it, the iTunes Music Store does good things for apple. It engenders some kind of goodwill, it makes some people who might otherw
Re:One problem with ITunes (Score:5, Insightful)
The protected AAC files (.m4p) downloaded from iTMS can be burned an unlimited number of times to recordable CDs. There is, of course, no protection on standard audio CDs, so you are free to rerip to MP3/OGG/your-format-du-jour.
Expecting legal downloads to ever be completely absent of DRM is completely ridiculous. It will simply never happen if the big 5 record labels are going to license their music. So, the best you can hope for is DRM that actually repects your usage rights. This is exactly what Apple's system, which is called FairPlay, was designed to do.
Wrongo... (Score:3, Insightful)
These sites [grammy.ru] have been available for years now. MP3 finder, grammy.ru - many of them. All operating completely within the laws of the country that hosts them (Russia) and in cooperation with many of the very same labels (Universal, Sony, etc) who have refused, for years, to cooperate with american web companies in offering the very same product package.
Notice how we never hear about lawsuits or the RIAA threatening to
Re:Can someone please explain (Score:4, Interesting)
Easy to access previews. A friend of mine recommended a band to me. Since I just downloaded iTunes, I pulled up there album and listen to a few songs. It's only 30 seconds, but it was quicker than finding a full song on Kazaa and hoping that the song on Kazaa is properly labeled.
Not only that but this propreitary service only lets you play your songs on an Ipod, no third party players supported.
You can also burn to CD, enabling you to use any Discman or other portable CD player.
Re:Can someone please explain (Score:4, Informative)
The appeal is that I can buy two good songs off of an otherwise crappy CD for $2, rather than being forced to buy the whole CD for $12+.
What possible advantage is there to this crippleware?
It's not so bad. Burn the AAC files to a CD, and rip them into MP3. Voila. (As for sound quality, I've done this and have zero complaints.)
-W
Re:Can someone please explain (Score:3, Insightful)
2. iTunes != iTMS. Once again: iTunes is not (just) an online music store. It is primarily a jukebox program. That's what I use it for -- I wouldn't buy
Re:Kazaa and other file sharing services (Score:5, Insightful)
The iTMS guarantees consistant quality, which is something that can't be said of P2P systems. iTMS also comes with additional information, you can get samples before you download a song - fast and convenient, unlike in KaZaA.
Overall, iTunes gives you a good interface for using the music, a consistant distribution system with a quality guarantee you don't get for free, and it's getting better. Sure, it won't appeal to audiophiles or the DRM-obsessed who are unfamiliar with the word "equitable", but then very little does.
Re:Downloaded iTunes for the AudioBooks (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Emusic kills subscription (Score:3, Informative)
On 8 November, the $9.99-a-month unlimited download service will be limited to a maximum of 40 downloads each month. Subscribers can increase that figure to 65 downloads a month, but that will cost them $14.99. A monthly payment of $50 will buy them 300 downloads each month.
That's under $.25 per track, for MP3s with NO DRM. A better
Re:Emusic kills subscription (Score:3, Insightful)
All true, but their material can be quite uneven and they tend not to have big-name artists (or only early recordings that were buried in record labels' vaults for very good reasons). Therefore, the attraction of eMusic was the possibility of downloading stuff speculatively, without thinking of a ticking download meter.
Nevertheless, I was willing to give them
Re:And the question you just HAVE to ask... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, yes, some probably will, but it's going to depend on the label, isn't it? I'm going to guess that artist-owned labels, a la Mailboat Records [mailboatrecords.com], are going to get a fair amount to the artists. In point of fact, Mailboat has some albums which have only been available through the iTunes music store so far, although they're going to be released on physical media by month's end.
I'm not dissing your point, but it's not Apple's fault--or for that matter, Tower Records' fault, or any other place selling songs on either digital or physical media--if artists aren't being paid very well by their publishers. Increasingly, artists are opting out of the broken major-label system, and while I'm sure most of them aren't doing substantially better, the chances are that most of them aren't doing any worse.
And that's one advantage that Apple does potentially give independent labels that places like Tower don't: equal footing.
I'm under no illusions about Apple doing this out of a sense of noble goodness, but so what? The entire recording industry "as we know it" may well be changing--but it's a sea change, not a sudden cataclysmic shift, as independent artist-owned labels find ways to get better distribution, taking advantage of new technology in ways the major labels can't or won't. If Apple remains open to independent labels and opens further (as they've clearly started to), they're going to be a force for this change, not an impediment to it.
Re:One million..... not that much (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:One million..... not that much (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:burning to cd (Score:3, Informative)
If you never resolve the issue, call up Apple and explain, they should be able to credit your account or something.