Apple celebrates 'A Decade of iTunes' with year-by-year milestones
Apple on Wednesday rolled out a new feature on its iTunes Store to celebrate "A Decade of iTunes," offering customers a history lesson of the company's now-dominant digital download destination.
The new addition to the iTunes Store includes an interactive timeline that allows visitors to see how iTunes ? as well as popular music ? has evolved over the last ten years. The feature kicks off by recalling April 28, 2003, when the iTunes Music Store launched with 200,000 songs, and the third-generation iPod was unveiled.
Back on its launch day, the top-selling song on iTunes was "Stuck in a Moment" by U2, while the most popular album was "Sea Change" by Beck. More than a million songs, priced at 99 cents apiece, were downloaded in the first week.
By clicking through on a year-by-year basis, customers can view the top selling iTunes album for each, and also view numerous individual milestones. These items are related to songs purchased, new countries where the iTunes Store launched, and major product launches such as new iPods.
The most recent milestone was hit on March 19, when the Justin Timberlake album "The 20/20 Experience" set a new worldwide record for album sales in its first week.
This Sunday will mark 10 years to the date that the iTunes Store opened. The company announced in its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday that the iTunes Store had a record quarter with $4 billion in revenues.
While it originally launched as music-only, video has become a major component of Apple's store. New data released this week by the NPD Group found that iTunes currently accounts for 67 percent of online television episode downloads, as well as 65 percent of movies purchased.
Beyond music and video, the iTunes Store also encompasses applications, e-books, and subscriptions to digital publications.
The new addition to the iTunes Store includes an interactive timeline that allows visitors to see how iTunes ? as well as popular music ? has evolved over the last ten years. The feature kicks off by recalling April 28, 2003, when the iTunes Music Store launched with 200,000 songs, and the third-generation iPod was unveiled.
Back on its launch day, the top-selling song on iTunes was "Stuck in a Moment" by U2, while the most popular album was "Sea Change" by Beck. More than a million songs, priced at 99 cents apiece, were downloaded in the first week.
By clicking through on a year-by-year basis, customers can view the top selling iTunes album for each, and also view numerous individual milestones. These items are related to songs purchased, new countries where the iTunes Store launched, and major product launches such as new iPods.
The most recent milestone was hit on March 19, when the Justin Timberlake album "The 20/20 Experience" set a new worldwide record for album sales in its first week.
This Sunday will mark 10 years to the date that the iTunes Store opened. The company announced in its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday that the iTunes Store had a record quarter with $4 billion in revenues.
While it originally launched as music-only, video has become a major component of Apple's store. New data released this week by the NPD Group found that iTunes currently accounts for 67 percent of online television episode downloads, as well as 65 percent of movies purchased.
Beyond music and video, the iTunes Store also encompasses applications, e-books, and subscriptions to digital publications.
Comments
Given recent events for Apple stock this would be a very welcome milestone
How about celebrating with better pricing?
90% of the time, I can still get a Physical CD Mailed To Me From Amazon, for less than albums on the iTunes store.
Or fixing the multiple ID problem. Over 10 years many of us bought content over a few different IDs and getting that content back is a PITA, especially when you get warnings like this when you try to download content from another ID: "If you download past purchases with your Apple ID, you cannot auto-download or download past purchases with a different Apple ID for 90 days." I have to wait 3 months before I can get my current Apple ID working properly with auto-downloads if I want to access previously purchased content on another ID? That's almost setup to prevent me from accessing my purchased content...
Sigh...
10 years and it still doesn't "just work".
Originally Posted by johndoe98
Or fixing the multiple ID problem.
Talk to the record companies about that.
10 years and it still doesn't "just work".
Thanks for trying to blame Apple for something out of their hands.
I'd happily recant my complaint if it was indeed a problem with the record companies. But can you provide any evidence to corroborate your claim? So far as I can see it's a problem with Apple not wanting to merge the IDs (probably since it would involve a lot of tedious database work). As far as the record companies are concerned, if I can prove I am the one who owns the Apple ID and purchased the content, I shouldn't have an issue accessing what I am licensed to. In fact, the problem also applies to software I purchased from the App store, where Apple is the one who sets the terms of the contract with the developers. I distinctly recall Cook replying in an email that they were working on the problem a long time ago, of course no progress has been made and no reports/explanations have emerged either why these issues couldn't be resolved.
But let's say you are right, and my music, books, and movies can't be fixed because of stupid licensing issues, why can't I transfer over my app licenses all to one ID to at least help resolve that issue, since that is entire on Apple's side.
Originally Posted by johndoe98
I'd happily recant my complaint if it was indeed a problem with the record companies. But can you provide any evidence to corroborate your claim?
I can see quite a few legal problems with anyone on Earth being able to absorb the purchases of anyone else on Earth. And quite a few reasons the MP/RIAA wouldn't want a single person to merge their different purchases from multiple accounts.
…if I can prove I am the one who owns the Apple ID and purchased the content, I shouldn't have an issue accessing what I am licensed to.
Tell the MPAA that since you can scan the proof of purchases on your DVDs you should be allowed to get digital copies for free. See how they respond.
In fact, the problem also applies to software I purchased from the App store, where Apple is the one who sets the terms of the contract with the developers.
Right, and as all Apple IDs are the same as all other Apple IDs, the same problems apply.
I distinctly recall Cook replying in an email that they were working on the problem a long time ago, of course no progress has been made and no reports/explanations have emerged either why these issues couldn't be resolved.
Why should they have to say anything beyond "We know about the problem" and then "We've solved the problem"?
But I'm not talking about anyone on earth. I'm talking about the owner of the Apple ID. So can you explain why there would be a problem for a single person to merge his different purchases? I mean both my Apple IDs have the exact same address and credit card information, and always have, so it is a triviality which is preventing the merger. The only reason I can envisage is that the MP/RIAA is hopping the inconvenience will lead me to re-purchase the content on my new Apple ID. What I am more inclined to do is to download a pirated copy, and sharing it along the way. These silly restrictions properly do them more damage than good. A happy customer is often a returning customer. The more inconvenient things remain, the more people will stop purchasing content in fear they will run into similar restrictions down the road.
Right, in the same way they have up until now, which results in more piracy and fewer purchases. This reminds me of the Napster days before iTunes.
Exactly.
Well if the solution was done in a timely manner then they need not say anything more. But when you tell your customers "we are aware of the problem and working on it", then your customers take you on your word and expect to see results down the line. Apple has switched from @mac, to @me to @icloud. There are so many transitions, how can anyone be sure their current purchases are not going to be another cluster $#!# in 5 years when Apple switches to the new @currentfad. We want to know there is a permanent workable and convenient system in place.
Originally Posted by johndoe98
But I'm not talking about anyone on earth.
Doesn't matter. It could be used to do that, and so the licensing doesn't allow it. That's the concern.
Exactly.
So you shouldn't have even asked if you knew the answer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Talk to the record companies about that.
Thanks for trying to blame Apple for something out of their hands.
Why do you assume that this is the fault of the record companies (ok so that's a rhetorical question)?
It is all to easy to paint the record companies as being the (only) bad guys, indeed it is even easier when you choose to ignore historical fact.
As early as 1998 the big record companies had shown that they were happy for individual digital tracks to be sold at 99c and for albums to be sold at $9.99. They did not insist on DRM/limitations back in those days.
One could argue that it wasn't until the advent of Sony's NetWalkman in 1999 and later the iPod/iTunes, that DRMing was feasible given that the other media players didn't use proprietary systems. Never-the-less it remains the case that it must be more than a coincidence that the only DRMers were those hardware makers that were directly involved in the music industry.
Apple and Sony only dropped DRM because of potential public backlash. Owners were increasingly aware that they could purchase DRM free music, often at lower prices but in a (very slightly) less convenient way.
In many respects, limitations surrounding Digital IDs are a simple extension of DRMs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJ1970
I wonder if this is mild foreplay for the iRadio (or whatever it will be called) service/feature from iTunes, etc.
Rumours of iRadio seem to have been doing the rounds since at least 2008. I recently found a story on the Guardian news website which references the Financial Times.
It claims that Apple had been negotiating with the music industry for a subscription model. I have no idea what came of the story though and I have not read the FT article yet. No idea if it was ever covered on this site.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/22/apple.mediabusiness
Edit,
actually it seems that the story was covered by most news agencies around that time. :blush
Originally Posted by hungover
Why do you assume that this is the fault of the record companies (ok so that's a rhetorical question)?
Don't you imagine they'd be against the equivalent of being able to freely exchange millions of songs?
As early as 1998 the big record companies had shown that they were happy for individual digital tracks to be sold at 99c and for albums to be sold at $9.99. They did not insist on DRM/limitations back in those days.
So are all books about Apple lying when they say the establishment of the iTunes Music Store was groundbreaking and hinged on the stubbornness of said companies?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Don't you imagine they'd be against the equivalent of being able to freely exchange millions of songs?
So are all books about Apple lying when they say the establishment of the iTunes Music Store was groundbreaking and hinged on the stubbornness of said companies?
1. I don't doubt that the labels would rather see DRM but the fact remains that it was the likes of Apple, MS and Sony that helped to push the process in that direction with their proprietary systems.
2. Any book that says that iTunes was the first to offer digital singles at $0.99 and albums at $9.99 is wrong. Period