Apple intros EU iTunes Music Store, iTunes 4.7
Apple today launched a European Union version of its iTunes Music Store, giving music fans in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain the same innovative features and breakthrough price of ?0.99 per song that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world. The company also announced it will launch the iTunes Music Store in Canada in November.
"We?re excited to bring the iTunes Music Store to even more music fans across Europe, and with this expansion we now reach customers in almost 70 percent of the global music market," said Eddy Cue, Apple?s vice president of Applications. "iTunes is the world?s number one online music store, with more than 150 million downloads and over 70 percent market share in the US and UK."
The EU iTunes Music Store features over 700,000 songs from all four major music companies and more than 100 independent record labels and exclusive tracks from a wide variety of leading worldwide artists, including songs from Anastacia, Marc Anthony, Andrea Bocelli, Black Eyed Peas, Destiny?s Child, Duran Duran, Keane, Bob Marley, George Michael, Gianni Morandi, Nas, La Oreja de Van Gogh, Laura Pausini, The Prodigy, Gwen Stefani, Travis and Zucchero. The EU iTunes Music Store offers the exclusive iTunes Originals in-studio series featuring exclusive recording sessions and interviews with LL Cool J, Jack Johnson, PJ Harvey and Sting.
With the same personal use rights as in the US, UK, France and Germany, the EU iTunes Music Store gives users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a single song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods. The EU iTunes Music Store offers PC and Mac users the same innovative features including:
"iMix," an innovative way for users to publish playlists of their favorite songs on the iTunes Music Store for other users to preview, rate and purchase. iMix creates a virtual iTunes community, enabling users to discover new music recommended by fellow music fans, rate iMixes published by other iTunes users and share iMix previews with friends;
"Party Shuffle," a dynamic playlist that automatically shuffles songs from a user?s music library, displays just-played and upcoming songs, and allows users to easily add, delete and rearrange upcoming songs on the fly. Party Shuffle is the ultimate DJ at any gathering and a great way for users to get reacquainted with their personal music library;
more than 8,000 audiobooks, which can be purchased with one click and listened to on any PC or Mac computer as well as on iPods. iTunes is the only digital music jukebox that allows users to seamlessly purchase audiobooks in the same easy way that they purchase music;
"Artist Alerts,: an email alert notifying users when music from one of their favorite artists has been added to iTunes;
the ability to create and print stunning CD jewel case inserts for albums or compilation discs, combining album art and track lists using professionally designed templates. For compilation CDs, iTunes will automatically generate a mosaic of album covers based on the chosen songs; and
automatic WMA to AAC conversion, enabling Windows users to automatically create iTunes versions of their songs encoded in unprotected WMA. Converting an entire music library into iTunes and syncing it onto iPod is now a snap.
Pricing & Availability
iTunes 4.7--a new version Apple's jukebox software for Mac and Windows--includes the EU iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from www.itunes.com. The EU iTunes Music Store works with the Euro, and purchase and download of songs requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. Further information about iTunes or iPod can be found at www.apple.com
"We?re excited to bring the iTunes Music Store to even more music fans across Europe, and with this expansion we now reach customers in almost 70 percent of the global music market," said Eddy Cue, Apple?s vice president of Applications. "iTunes is the world?s number one online music store, with more than 150 million downloads and over 70 percent market share in the US and UK."
The EU iTunes Music Store features over 700,000 songs from all four major music companies and more than 100 independent record labels and exclusive tracks from a wide variety of leading worldwide artists, including songs from Anastacia, Marc Anthony, Andrea Bocelli, Black Eyed Peas, Destiny?s Child, Duran Duran, Keane, Bob Marley, George Michael, Gianni Morandi, Nas, La Oreja de Van Gogh, Laura Pausini, The Prodigy, Gwen Stefani, Travis and Zucchero. The EU iTunes Music Store offers the exclusive iTunes Originals in-studio series featuring exclusive recording sessions and interviews with LL Cool J, Jack Johnson, PJ Harvey and Sting.
With the same personal use rights as in the US, UK, France and Germany, the EU iTunes Music Store gives users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a single song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods. The EU iTunes Music Store offers PC and Mac users the same innovative features including:
"iMix," an innovative way for users to publish playlists of their favorite songs on the iTunes Music Store for other users to preview, rate and purchase. iMix creates a virtual iTunes community, enabling users to discover new music recommended by fellow music fans, rate iMixes published by other iTunes users and share iMix previews with friends;
"Party Shuffle," a dynamic playlist that automatically shuffles songs from a user?s music library, displays just-played and upcoming songs, and allows users to easily add, delete and rearrange upcoming songs on the fly. Party Shuffle is the ultimate DJ at any gathering and a great way for users to get reacquainted with their personal music library;
more than 8,000 audiobooks, which can be purchased with one click and listened to on any PC or Mac computer as well as on iPods. iTunes is the only digital music jukebox that allows users to seamlessly purchase audiobooks in the same easy way that they purchase music;
"Artist Alerts,: an email alert notifying users when music from one of their favorite artists has been added to iTunes;
the ability to create and print stunning CD jewel case inserts for albums or compilation discs, combining album art and track lists using professionally designed templates. For compilation CDs, iTunes will automatically generate a mosaic of album covers based on the chosen songs; and
automatic WMA to AAC conversion, enabling Windows users to automatically create iTunes versions of their songs encoded in unprotected WMA. Converting an entire music library into iTunes and syncing it onto iPod is now a snap.
Pricing & Availability
iTunes 4.7--a new version Apple's jukebox software for Mac and Windows--includes the EU iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from www.itunes.com. The EU iTunes Music Store works with the Euro, and purchase and download of songs requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. Further information about iTunes or iPod can be found at www.apple.com
Comments
They also rolled in the iPod preferences dialog directly into the Preferences window, instead of it being only accessible through the iPod button at the bottom of the iTunes window. A nice touch (though you'd think they would have done it earlier).
"Keep Mini Player on top of all other windows"
Yay, floating iTunes controls!
It's another nice touch, but I'll stick to using SizzlingKeys.
Originally posted by New
No Scandinavian stores... RIDICULOUS!!!
Yeah, but one Nordic store - just give in to the euro and you might get your stores as well.
Originally posted by PCheese
There's also an addition to the Advanced pane of the preferences window:
"Keep Mini Player on top of all other windows"
Yay, floating iTunes controls!
one small bug: it stays on top of my movie when i'm watching a dvd full screen. not a big deal to jsut click the button though.
Originally posted by Speedlite
Yeah, but one Nordic store - just give in to the euro and you might get your stores as well.
Norway is not part of the EU, so that is not an option...
Originally posted by New
Norway is not part of the EU, so that is not an option...
Perhaps it's time to join the EU.
Seriously though, I think it would be to the advantage of Norway to do so.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
one small bug: it stays on top of my movie when i'm watching a dvd full screen. not a big deal to jsut click the button though.
Because DVD Player is such a piece of shit using 'fake fullscreen', things that float will inevitably cover the playing movie.
The mini firmware is aware of what color it is (you can verify this through diagnostics on the device). My blue mini shows up with a blue icon in the sidebar. Nice.
Now where are those 4G features for the mini then?
Originally posted by Robin Hood
Perhaps it's time to join the EU.
Seriously though, I think it would be to the advantage of Norway to do so.
Well, if ITMS is the best argument? maybe we shouldn't...