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iTMS Europe: 800,000 Tracks In A Week
no_demons writes "In a press release, Apple has announced that the "European" iTunes Music Store has sold 0.8 million tracks in a week, with around 450,000 being sold in the UK alone. According to Steve Jobs other services were shifting only 50,000 tracks a week in Europe before the launch."
The RIAA still doesn't understand why singles are selling so well, so sues 428 more people.
I stole this sig.
A lot of people on here were doubting that the UK has much of a Macintosh userbase.
Of the people I know who've used iTMS AND BOUGHT SOMETHING, about half are Mac users and half aren't.
I know a lot more Windows users who've installed it though.
Join the Free Software Foundation
what they don't tell you is that 74% of those downloads were made by Sporty Spice. She d/l'ed thousands of copies of "tell me what you want, what you really, really want" in the hopes of reclaiming some of her former "glory". It's shameful for all Europeans.
This is good news for Apple (obviously) but what will be more interesting is how this affects iPod sales. We all know the iTunes Music store is a pimp for the iPod, so now that we have a controlled environment that we can monitor closely, I guess we can prove if Apple's music model really works the way they planned.
What this proves is that Apple is becoming less a computer vendor and more a consumer electronics company. Sure, they still sell computers (I have a 12" PB), but their new focus is becoming clear. The surging price of AAPL only reinforces this new direction.
I'm writing this ON an Apple //c you insensitve clod!
There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
Even if all the other stores go out of business Apple will still have competition: file sharing networks.
Jobs seemed to be the first major player in the field to understand that you need to offer a competitive alternative to get people to use a store instead of Kazaa. I doubt that view will change anytime soon.
A bit off topic, but it will come up anyways, so mod me however you wish:
.ogg for use in UT2004 seemed unnecessarily complex (burn to cd, rip to wav, encode to ogg), and as such I am wondering if a DRM is really necessary. I haven't pirated music in over a year now, and indeed have no such music on my laptop (or iPod) currently: I am now more prone to buy music from iTMS.
I've used iTunes since its inception (on OS 9), and have bought around 30-40 songs since the release of iTMS US (and have also downloaded the countless weekly free tracks). The DRM, while not particularly inconvenient to me (I have a 20GB iPod) seems to be a great sticking point to others. I have never had the need to use my music on more than 3 computers simultaneously, and have never needed to burn a playlist so many times as to exceed the iTunes limit (and even then you can change the playlist and burn again)
That said, the steps necessary to convert my favorite fragging tracks to
I am proud of Apple's successes and hope they go far in the future, but DRM is a dangerous and narrow path, and I only hope that Steve Jobs doesn't take his penchant for control too far with this one. Until that time, the current implementation is sufficient for me, and with new technologies such as Airtunes connectivity and convergence are becoming more mainstream: the need for DRM-less files is becoming less.
However... Apple needs to open their format to other companies. I dont give a damn, Steve, if iPod comprises 50%, 75% or even 100% of the market, if another company wants to use your insanely great AAC Protected format, they should be able to. The fact that consumers cannot use other digital devices to play the product Apple is selling is a major sticking point with many, and the tools necessary to allow this are being intentionally broken with each successive iTunes release.
Yes, I'm a fervent Mac Evangelist, but while this works perfectly for me, getting a friend with another mp3 player to start using a Mac and/or the iTMS is going to be pretty hard if I have to explain to him that he has to break the user agreement to play the files by breaking the DRM.
The format needs to be opened, and it needs to happen soon.
Help a college student
WELL I'M WRITING THIS ON A CO
CO TRS-80 YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
AT LEAST YOU HAVE LOWER-CASE!!
OK?
OK?
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
Though iTunes is the dominant factor in legal music downloads, the sharing aspect will always keep a bit of balance to the system.
That said, I am glad to see someone prove that this is a viable business as it lends credence to the statement "Give me a legal alternative" that many P2Pers have made.
My $.02 inflation adjusted... take it for what it's worth.
I
If anyone really cares, this is how it breaks down:
Population of Germany, France and UK: 203,119,530
Population of US: 293,027,571
Which gives us
3.94 downloads per 1000 people for Europe
8.53 downloads per 1000 people for the US
This assumes 800,000 downloads for Gr, Fr, and UK compared to 2.5 mil for the US.
Populations are the 2004 Estimates from The CIA World Factbook
Was that night on the marge of Lake LaBarge I cremated Sam McGee...
It's funny, but Apple is getting into the consumer electronics business at a much deeper level than, say, Dell or Gateway.
When Dell or Gateway say "we're in the consumer electronics business," what they mean is "we sell consumer electronics." They compete against Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. That's a hard business to be in.
When Microsoft says "we're in the consumer electronics business," what they mean is "we make the software that allows someone else to make consumer electronic devices, and take a cut." Nobody likes this because nobody wants to pay someone else for their IP - and nobody wants to fund a competitor, either (ie: Microsoft).
When Apple says "we're in the consumer electronics business," they actually design, build, and sell products that are end-user targeted. They're like Panasonic, Pioneer, or Sony, in that they actually create and sell products. Except that the manufacturers don't have their own stores, but whatever.
What Apple's done is taken control of personal music distribution. What that means is they're an end-to-end solution provider of music to the individual. Buy music from iTMS, play music on your machine with iTMS, play music on your stereo with Airport Express, and bring your music with you with the iPod. Now with the BMW thing, you integrate your iPod with your car (at a minimal level).
Likely the next iPod will be an Airport Express-enabled, so you can wirelessly stream music from your iPod to your stereo. Then there are even more gadgets and doodads that extend the music "ecosystem," to use a somewhat abused word.
It'll be an interesting to see what's coming up...those guys are full of surprises, which is what invention (and innovation) is all about.
Maybe just because iTMS matches users needs? It's not just because it's Apple, otherwise the world would be 80% Mac.
iTMS is (as are all Apple products) extremely well designed and they managed to produce exactly what people were waiting for. The complete chain (iTMS iTunes iPod) is perfectly integrated and even my mother can use it.