Apple concludes '12 Days of Gifts' with Rolling Stones mini album
For its final freebie of this year's "12 Days of Gift" promotion, Apple gave users a mini album of three songs from The Rolling Stones' concert film "Sweet Summer Sun -- Hyde Park Live," which was recorded in 2013.

The trifecta of tunes includes "Tumbling Dice," "Doom & Gloom" and the newly added "Beast of Burden," each performed live during the Stones' 2013 concert series in London's Hyde Park.
While not labeled a soundtrack, the album's cuts are taken from the band's live two-concert performance, which was filmed and subsequently released as a movie last year.
"Sweet Summer Sun" officially brings Apple's "12 Days of Gifts" promotion to a close. For 2013, users in the U.S., Europe and Canada were offered songs, apps, movies, e-books and more through the 12 Days of Gifts iOS app.
An annual holiday tradition, the "12 Days" digital content giveaway was previously restricted to parts of Europe and Canada. This year, however, Apple extended the promotion to U.S. customers for the first time.
After releasing Lorde's latest single as a teaser gift in mid-December, Apple kicked off "12 Days of Gifts" with a collection of Justin Timberlake tracks recorded live from this year's iTunes Festival in London.
Those interested in picking up "Sweet Summer Sun -- Hyde Park Live" can do so via the free 12 Days of Gifts app or directly from the iTunes Store. As with the previous 12 gifts, Monday's release will be available for the next 24 hours.

The trifecta of tunes includes "Tumbling Dice," "Doom & Gloom" and the newly added "Beast of Burden," each performed live during the Stones' 2013 concert series in London's Hyde Park.
While not labeled a soundtrack, the album's cuts are taken from the band's live two-concert performance, which was filmed and subsequently released as a movie last year.
"Sweet Summer Sun" officially brings Apple's "12 Days of Gifts" promotion to a close. For 2013, users in the U.S., Europe and Canada were offered songs, apps, movies, e-books and more through the 12 Days of Gifts iOS app.
An annual holiday tradition, the "12 Days" digital content giveaway was previously restricted to parts of Europe and Canada. This year, however, Apple extended the promotion to U.S. customers for the first time.
After releasing Lorde's latest single as a teaser gift in mid-December, Apple kicked off "12 Days of Gifts" with a collection of Justin Timberlake tracks recorded live from this year's iTunes Festival in London.
Those interested in picking up "Sweet Summer Sun -- Hyde Park Live" can do so via the free 12 Days of Gifts app or directly from the iTunes Store. As with the previous 12 gifts, Monday's release will be available for the next 24 hours.
Comments
12 useless gifts. OK they are free. You can't please everyone. I would prefer to choose my own. How about Free iTunes Store credits for all those loyal customers who have contributed to Apples huge stockpile of cash? How about giving something back? OK Don't, give it to the shareholders they obviously are more important than the rest of us.
I think Tiny Thief is a nice game, but that's 1 out of 12 for me this year. MrCrab was a disappointment, and the rest of the gifts were media for which I have other sources.
Worst gifts ever. Won´t bother next year.
Blah blah blah free - I don´t care. Apple was cheap this year.
For a company that has that much money Apple surely is a cheap bastard.
For a company that has that much money Apple surely is a cheap bastard.
And that's assuming that it's Apple paying for the gifts. My experience is that it's the content providers who have to take the hit.
Still, I'm pretty happy with Home Alone. Thanks Apple/20th Century Fox!
I didn't get much of anything from any other multinational corporations this year, so don't have much time for the ingrates.
Thanks Apple! I didn't download all of them, but any gifts are appreciated.
I didn't get much of anything from any other multinational corporations this year, so don't have much time for the ingrates.
I'm getting "free" games with my Xbox Live Gold and Playstation+ subscriptions on a regular basis. Also got some free cloud storage from both Google and Microsoft but those are limited periods so do not count.
I would say the Xbox Live Gold games I got were old too, but so was Home Alone
It's amazing how much people complained about free stuff this year. You aren't owed anything! If you don't like the free stuff, don't download it. The Sesame Street Season 43 episode that was given away a couple days ago got its rating hammered (like 4x more 1 stars than any other rating) because people were mad that they didn't get something better for free. Now parents who are actually looking for good entertainment for their children may worry about the quality of the program which isn't reflected at all in its rating. Why have we become such a society of entitlement??
12 useless gifts. OK they are free. You can't please everyone. I would prefer to choose my own. How about Free iTunes Store credits for all those loyal customers who have contributed to Apples huge stockpile of cash? How about giving something back? OK Don't, give it to the shareholders they obviously are more important than the rest of us.
And guys like you yammer about how greedy Apple is. Look in the mirror.
For a company that has that much money Apple surely is a cheap bastard.
And what did Samsung give you this year?
This thread is a microcosm of the state of our culture. Bitching about freebies? Really? You people are disgusting.
This thread is a microcosm of the state of our culture. Bitching about freebies? Really? You people are disgusting.
It's all about precedent, last year they did offer some nice apps, so this year (with an even bigger stockpile of cash) and giving away the iWork and iLife suite for free with new iPhones some of us expected more (I could also state it would have been nice to offer it for free for every ios7 upgrader on their announcement, but they're free to give away what they want).
They are not just giving away gifts, they offer a special gift app which raises expectations even more.
One big plus, next year, I'm not expecting anything so should be happy again with whatever they gift.
And what did Samsung give you this year?
Well I didn't give Samsung money for 1 macbook pro, 1 ipad mini 1st gen, 1 iphone 5, 1 macbook air and 2 ipad mini retina.
How stupid can you people be? Honestly. Answer the question. Where do you get off?
…this year… …giving away the iWork and iLife suite for free… …some of us expected more…
See, I don’t get that. It had nothing whatsoever to do with this promotion.
"How about giving something back?" they did already. you gave them cash and they gave you a product or service in return.
ok, i'm just teasing here.. I agree, Apples 12 days this year were absolute pants. They would have ben better off not doing it. Giving away something, thats already worthless, for free can do more PR damage than doing nothing at all.
no one is giving out about M$ at the moment and their crappy gifts, because they didn't give anything.
Other years were very good with at least 6 or 7 of the gifts being quite good.
Hope they analyse download stats compared to last year and decide to review it for next year,