Slashdot Mirror
Apple's 500 Million Songs
Paul H. writes "Apple is giving away an iPod Mini and a 50-song gift card to whomever purchases every 100,000th song on iTunes, until they reach 500 million downloads. The person who downloads the 500 millionth song wins 10 free iPods, a gold 10,000-song gift card, and 10 additional 50-song gift cards for the iPods. To top it off, the winner gets 4 first row Coldplay tickets with back-stage passes."
A use for all those free songs I had saved up from Mountain Dew bottles!
isn't one enough?
I'd gladly trade in the extra 9 for more songs.
Cynical side of me sees attempt to drum up more sales.
Realistic side... sees attempt to drum up more sales.
I am not in anyway affiliated with Max Cannon
Find a song, do the "tell a friend" feature and type in "itunes500@apple.com" as the friend to email. Each time you do it, it is an entry. -Nick
-nick
Apple wants us to think getting 10,000 songs for free is worth untold millions of dollars but the marginal cost to apple, or the record companies is near $0.00.
Just something to remember. I'd rather win something tangible like a house.
1. Gift them ...
2. Beowulf cluster
3.
4. Profit!?
Seriously though, you'd run out of people you felt close enough to to give them an iPod before you ran out.
And I think 10,500 songs counts as a lifetime supply.
"For years, I struggled with reality... but I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd
Play that funky music, nerd boy....
Gets 10 Coldplay tickets!
please use our service. we'll give you stuff!
we suckered all the apple people so far.. and we still need more users!
To anybody thinking about buying a whole bunch of iTunes to try and win this prize, give it up, you probably don't have an iChance in iHell. /sigh
Rumor had it that they had overstocked their inventory of iPods and needed to get rid of them. Is this just a quiet way of getting rid of them
Yep. They overstocked by 10 units and they need to unload them stat.
I'm in 92426 charge and 92427 I keep losing 924.... count, crap!! 1, 2
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
...until the last item on the list. Coldplay. Yawn.
I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody.
how is this news for nerds?
Apple isn't so stupid afterall, now they're making people buy songs for no reason just for a chance to win an iPod or the grand prize. Sound a little like Willy Wonka to me...
Any idea about the numbers so far?
Sorry I'm not a iTunes user
Sincerely,
Jeve Stobs.
The RIAA will be handing out lawsuits for every 100,000th download on a p2p network, leading up to the public beheading of the person who download the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th song.
We can only hope they don't get stabbed as well.
Mark A. McBride -- OmniNerd.com
much like the bottle caps you could see the bottoms of before buying, this scheme has an obvious flaw.
Just buy 100,000 songs and hey, free ipod!
The horror!
*Awaits insightful from those of similar mind and troll/flamebait from the fans*
"I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
Do I still get to punch that blasted monkey 10 times first?
this calculates to... pinky ready... one MILLION dollars!
Why not give away a nice Dual G5 system with the 30 inch cinema display instead of 10 iPods. What would you do with 10 iPods anyway? I mean 1 or 2 iPod's would be nice but 10??
>The person who downloads the 500 millionth song wins 10 free iPods, a gold 10,000-song gift card...
...and gets to visit the iPod factory run by the mysterious Steve Wonka?
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
We already know of a way to get 10,000 free songs. Your gimmicks ain't flyin'.
Not sure I'd want to win this. You get what "$10K" worth of music, $3K worth of ipods, probably a grand for the concert stuff. Boom - you owe the IRS 20% of $14000.
Rumor had it that they had overstocked their inventory of iPods and needed to get rid of them. Is this just a quiet way of getting rid of them through promotions and suckering people into buying songs? Sounds like it to me.
Nah, Apple isn't that generous. They've sold something like 450M songs to date, so they still have 50M to go before they hit the 500M jackpot. One iPod for every 100K songs, and a 10 iPod mega prize adds up to only 510 give-away iPods. Apple sells a couple million iPods a year, so I don't think 510 is going to make a dent in any sort of inventory they might have.
Wins IPod and tickets, sells all on Ebay. Oh god I love you Apple.
The RIAA is sure to notice any company that gives away 10,500 songs...
;0]
All the iPods and iTunes in the world are not enough to make me willing to sit front row for Coldplay. I would be forced to stab out my eardrums out with an ice pick, rendering me unable to make use of the good prizes.
I think I speak for all of us out there who already knew about the contest: Thanks, now a million more people know about this.
Currently at 478 million downloads, the max amount of iPods would be about 230 (10 + 22million / 100K), but your point is valid.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
iTunes API comprehensive?a _Structure);
while (totaldownloads != 500000)
{
download_random_song(Mother_in_Law_Creditcard_Dat
totaldownloads++;
printf("Now I can havea beowulf cluster of iPods!\n");
}
Powered by caffeine and sugar; BSD
Oh sure, when Apple gives away 500 million songs it's called a promotion but when I do it the RIAA gets involved.
Let's see how much this promotion would cost Apple:
500 million / 100,000 songs = 500 winners
500 winners * (50 songs * $0.80 per song + $100 per iPod mini) = $70,000
Gold gift card = $8,000
10 iPods = $1,000
Coldplay tickets = $0 cuz Coldplay is teh suck.
Total cost = $79,000, considerably less than a single 30-second prime time spot.
So Apple thanks you for the free advertising on this highly read online forum!
Read the summary again. The person who downloads the 500,000,000 song wins the grand prize. At least that is how I interpret "The person who downloads the 500 millionth song wins 10 free iPods"
It's, "whoever purchases...", not "whomever.."
Tip: the difference between who and whom is like the difference between he and him, or she and her.
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
You could sell 9 of them (and the Coldplay tickets too, for that matter - Ughh coldplay!:( ) and then buy a G5...
or you could just listen to all 10 of those ipods at once!
Me, I'd be safe from buying Birthday presents for a year or two.
I suck at math.
... contests are used as a way for those in the 'have'-stance of controlling interest in a product in the 'have-not's. "Hey, if you put our inane message, 'ClearChannelFM is the mostest bestest non-monopolistic FM conglomerateStation in the northern globosphere!!!11' on your answering machine, and we call you, you're going to win an all expenses paid trip to Blowjobland where you'll listen to nothing but shitty music and never receive a blowjob!" in the meantime, all the people who fall for it, or buy their product, or ("I am a Consumer Whore!" "And how!") are just playing into their hands, advertising for them.
That's right. I'm going to be first in line to buy songs just so I have a chance at being given a gift by the people that control my very being. I love me, and I love free stuff, because it really is free. Nobody had to work to make it, and I deserve free stuff, because corporations are nice and like the pander to my whim.
I buy now.
Everyone seems to be forgetting that this prize package will be considered income to the winner's federal government. I'm an ignorent american, so I can't speak for other countires, but I'm fairly sure that if an american wins, Apple will file the proper paperwork with the IRS... pretty soon the $9900+iPods+concert trip ~= $15000 "free" prize package is going to cost the "winner" almost $5000 in income taxes.
If I won, I would have to forefit the prize because there is NO WAY I could afford to pay the taxes on it.
Now, if Apple were to be giving away a car, I could at least borrow money to pay the taxes, then sell the car to pay off the loan, and keep the balance for myself. There's not much I can do with $9900 of "free" music.
Bastards. I hope this leads to an iTunes boycott.
To celebrate, the purchaser of every 100,000th song until we sell 500 million will receive an iPod mini and a 50-song gift card. If you're the one, you get to choose the color. (And the 50 songs.)
500 million songs on the iTunes Music Store marks a dramatic acceleration of the purchase of legally downloadable music on the Internet. And the music fan who purchases that song will receive a prize that's just as dramatic -- 10 iPods for yourself and family or friends (choose from any model iPod, iPod mini, iPod U2, or iPod shuffle); a gold 10,000-song gift card for the music store; 10 additional 50-song gift cards to go with those iPods; and a trip for you and three guests to see Coldplay on its current tour, with front-row seats (subject to availability), and "back-stage" passes for a meet n' greet with the band (guaranteed availability).
In total 230 iPods will be given away. The grand prize winner gets 10 iPods (any combination). Every 100,000th song purchaser wins an iPod mini.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
iTunes Music Store also sells audiobooks, but sadly not for 99-cents per "song." I wonder if the gift cards are good for audiobooks.
I never win anything anyway. Hell, I can't even get MOD points and look how they give those away.
I can just see the personal ad now:
Go on a date with me, win an ipod.
If I had an ipod, why would I want another one?
Do they really expect to tweak sales with such a lame promotion?
Although giving away a G5 is a good idea, most people that would clamor for such a thing already have one, as well as a Jetta, a Yoga tape from Bread and Circus and Bono to record the greeting on your answering machine.
I think a summer of concerts at a local venue for the winner might be a better prize. After all it's about the music... right?
Admittedly, the iPod is a sweet little audio player with a clever store concept behind it.
/. is just free advertising for Steve & Co. We are not talking about new products or services here, folks. We are talking about shopping at SteveWorld to earn a few bonus points should we be so lucky to be counted as customer # 490000.
But putting this kind of story on
There are dozens of great (DRM-free) audio players out there. I cannot see why we should high-five every little stunt from Apple's marketing department on a site devoted to innovation and cool stuff.
talk about full of crap.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Also from Apple: ... 499,900,000th Entry).
How You Win. Winners will be determined by the order of the Entries received. One (1) iPod mini/50-song card Prize will be awarded for each Entry sent immediately following the 480,099,999th song downloaded, until iTunes reaches its 500 millionth Entry (i.e., one (1) iPod mini/50-song card Prize will be given away for the 480,100,000th Entry, 480,200,000th Entry,
So it only starts giving away once it hits 481 million songs. This amounts to 199 (for each 100K) + 10 (for the grand prize).
I'm an ignorent american
In fact, I'm so ignorent that I misspelled "ignorant".
I think it's time for a break...
If I win the free 10,000 songs that works out to roughly a $10,000 value. Do I have to pay taxes on it?
And by 481 million, I clearly mean 480,100,000
..and marketing for apple
and four Coldplay tickets too?
Hot damn! Sign me up!
Clearly.
-Anonymous CowHeart
You guys are nerds. Put away that HP... find a girlfriend (or boyfriend if you swing that way... not like there's anything wrong with it).
ogg
Black cat, searing pain, flames...? I must be in Heaven! - Homer Simpson
From TFA:
500 Millionth Download Promotion
Official Rules - US
1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
You can probably sell the 10,000 song card on ebay for pretty close to $10,000 which should easily cover your tax bill.
I didn't know slashdot had become a part of Apple's marketing division.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Purchase isn't required. Read the rules.
I'd consider that more of a punishment if I had to sit through a Coldplay concert. Now if I could sell the tickets and passes that would be great. The rest of the prizes sound nice though.
well, I suppose you could always find someone willing to trade you those tickets for a vinyl ipod carrying case or something :D
// I will show you fear in a handful of jellybeans.
If you bothered to read the contest rules, you can in fact mail-in an entry.
Sex has a $0 marginal cost.
Quoted from Official US rules
Read the rules dingus. No purchase is necessary.
...is how much it sucks. How the hell can it keep selling at such inflated prices?
Ron dies in chapter 9 of book 7.
The grandparent read correctly. Apple gives away 10 iPods (the grand prize) plus 22million/100K = 220 iPod minis, one for each 100000 song purchaser. That's 230 iPods total.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
Unused Pepsi codes:
ZKBEN E36K3,
N4CRN EHOGL,
R4R3X KM3JN, and
LQ3OY H9MXL.
Be the first to cash these in! Maybe you'll win free Coldplay tickets to boot!
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
Also, beware of iTunes and using your credit card for it. I know a number of people who had their credit cards stolen through iTunes. I wouldn't take that risk and rather use any good P2P software.
Exactly. Why let some no name steal your credit card number when you can have the RIAA sue you AND infest your computer with a multitude of trojans and spyware!
It's all about return on investment people.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Want a free ipod? Click here.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
NO Purchase necessary (unless you wish to enter the competition) , Odds of winning mathematically insignificant (read the back of your ticket)
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Tying a prize to a purchase is OK as long as there is an equal odds 'no purchase necessary' option. I don't see how they can do this with winning so intimately tied to a purchase.
If you are a poor slob who pays (almost) no taxes, the prize is more valuable than it is to a high wage earner. For example, if a well-off California citizen won the prize, they would have to pay about $4300 in taxes, assuming a 33% federal rate, and 9% for California.
Your milage may vary - I've heard some places (Canada?) don't tax "prizes".
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
An iPod with integrated freezer?
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
No, it'd just be following the law. In the United States, giveaways like this have to be on a "no purchase necessary" basis so as not to run afoul of federal and state gambling laws.
Let's do the math. To guarantee an iPod mini and 50 free songs, you need to buy a block of 100K songs, which costs about $100K. An iPod mini is worth at most $250, and 50 songs is worth about $50. So your net gain is 0.3%. It's sad that these types of promos actually get people to buy more stuff.
Vote for Pedro
I know a number of people who posted lies as Anonymous Cowards and had their testicles explode. Absolute, unimpeachable fact, my friend.
I wouldn't be playing so fast and loose with the boys if I were you, AC.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Perhaps Slashdot editors got an iPod each for running this ad
Really? A friend of mine told me that this guy once used iTunes and woke up in a bathtub of ice without one kidney.
-Ted
-=-=- Quantum physics - the dreams stuff are made of.
And as for the bloatware charge, iTunes doesn't have a lot of useless features; in fact, most users will complain about something that's missing (e.g. gapless playback, user-defined tags, etc.) before they'll complain of bloat. How is it bloatware?
The iTunes software takes longer to load than Winamp, it uses more RAM than Winamp (forcing 4.5-year-old 0.125 GiB machines such as mine to hit the swap file more often), and it has two memory-resident services called iPodService and iTunesHelper that, unlike Winamp Agent, can't be turned off from within the program's options without an uninstall.
It seems everyone is giving away Ipods.. even me!
michael at bigpawsonly.com
Most of the people using iTunes probably already have the iPod, so why not convert them to MAC while your at it?
A free iMac would be cool.
As for the free 10K songs, it looks really nice but isn't all that practical. I have nearly 3000 songs on my iPod as it is and it already is unwieldy. I guess you could just start clicking whole albums, of which you would need a 1000 of them just to burn through the gift. In all its a great marketing ploy as they can figure most of that gift will never be used especially if they attach an expiration date to the reward.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Well, and then you'd have 100K songs sitting around for you to listen to on your new $100K iPod.
"I make people like me... WITH VIOLENCE!" - ATHF
Giving away? I thought each song on iTunes was for 99 cents when purchased individually, and most albums at $9.99? Only songs given away were the ones through Pepsi, 7-11, and the previous countdown to 100 million songs (and some others, I'm sure).
Don't forget the upcoming Apple iPod Flea.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. - but you still need itunes .
How To Enter. You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by: 1) downloading a song from iTunes (any free downloads will be deemed an ineligible entry); or 2) a free alternative means of sending an e-mail to Apple at itunes500@apple.com via the iTunes "Tell a Friend" feature (a song download or Tell a Friend e-mail will be deemed an "Entry(ies)"). The "Tell a Friend" feature can be easily accessed at iTunes by selecting a song, and clicking the "Tell a Friend" link that is displayed for that song. One Entry will be automatically submitted for each song downloaded or Tell a Friend e-mail sent. The Promotion begins following the downloading of the 480,000,000th iTunes song, and ends with the downloading of the 500 millionth Entry ("End Date"). Only Entries submitted in this time period will be accepted.
I heard that there was this EE who was eating at a diner. And when some dude forgot the convolution integral the EE killed the whole town. http://www.rpi.edu/~harmsj/RUPEE/
Does iTunes actually have 10000 quality songs that people would want to download? I browsed some of those songs. I did not like many of them.
Just click the goddamn link and read the rules. The winner is defined as the 500 millionth entry (with the counter starting at 480,000,000), with each entry generated by either buying a song or using, FOR FREE, the iTMS "refer a friend" feature to refer a song to itunes500@apple.com.
...is right on the front page at www.apple.com.
the hottest music podcast on the block
the winner of the RIAA contest gets 4 front row tickets to an Ashlee Simpson concert. Much more painful than a beheading.
Last year the counter was so far behind that people were fooled into buying songs long after the possibility to win was actually there. They had contacted the winner, given him his prize, and gotten pictures of him w/ it days before their webpage counter hit its target.
So, couldn't someone:
1. Post an EBay auction advertising 9 iPods, three tickets to Coldplay, and a 10,000 song gift card for the buy-it-now of $6,000
2. Set up a shopping cart on the iTunes music store with 2,000 songs in it
3. Download iTunes Estimater
4. Wait until it's within 2,000 songs of 500,000,000
5. Purchase the whole cart load (thus being guaranteed the 500,000,000 songs)
6. End up with over $3,000, a front-row ticket to see Coldplay, and an iPod?
Hmmmmmmmmm.....
I was totally about to sign up, but then I saw that they give you coldplay tickets... fuck that...
how many ipods the /. editor gets for yet another shameless itunes plug. i guess we'll see endless dupes until the contest ends.
wins 10 free iPods...
He/She can still only be killed for them once however
I hope that the grand prize goes to someone that just downloads the free song of the week. That would be awesome.
what about a beastfriend if you swing that way.. not like there's anything wrong with it. or a necrofried if you swing that way
Seriously. That's like, a lot.
Is there a counter or something similar where you can see the current download count. It'd be interesting to see how fast it changes...
Lucky bastard.
# How To Enter. You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by: 1) downloading a song from iTunes (any free downloads will be deemed an ineligible entry); or 2) a free alternative means of sending an e-mail to Apple at itunes500@apple.com via the iTunes "Tell a Friend" feature (a song download or Tell a Friend e-mail will be deemed an "Entry(ies)"). The "Tell a Friend" feature can be easily accessed at iTunes by selecting a song, and clicking the "Tell a Friend" link that is displayed for that song. One Entry will be automatically submitted for each song downloaded or Tell a Friend e-mail sent. The Promotion begins following the downloading of the 480,000,000th iTunes song, and ends with the downloading of the 500 millionth Entry ("End Date"). Only Entries submitted in this time period will be accepted.
Subscription services are the future not iTunes. $4.99/month for all the music you can listen to on Yahoo Unlimited. Its a little more for the other players (Rhapsody, Napster), but they may drop their prices to remain competitive, especially once Microsoft rolls out their unlimited program.
Granted at the end of the day, you don't own the music with a music subscription service, but it gives you the freedom to sample so much stuff, and you can always buy the stuff you really want.
Apple might try to come out with a subscription program, but it might not be compatible with existing iPods, which will piss people off for sure. Best case is a firmware upgrade.
If I download, I already have an iPod, otherwise I would not download. So why would I need a second iPod?
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
So, you had a couple run-ins with faulty iPods and you feel the need to anonymously discredit Apple by making up crap about stolen credit card numbers in iTunes? If this is any indication about how you think, then I can still rest assured that all sane people prefer iPods. To troll-hunters: the last sentence is a joke.
Because that means 10 more people (you probably already have one, right?) to buy songs from them!
Amazing
Everything I need to know about copyrights I learned from Slashdot.
I would sell the nine other iPod's, I know people still would defiantly want one or two. Then maybe I would sell the iTune song card since I don't use iTunes anyway and never plan to. If they designed this promotion to get me to switch over or join iTunes, it failed.
It sounds like you want http://www.allofmp3.com/. They're just like iTunes except:
1) They charge by the amount transferred
2) They're ten times cheaper
3) They let you choose what kind of encoding you want
4) They're technically legal (thanks to Russia's "mandatory licensing" laws)
5) If you use it you piss of the RIAA.
If you run Windows they even have a client that's not unlike iTunes. Other OSes will need to use their web interface.
World Changing - News for Humans, Stuff about our planet
So true. I knew this one guy who bought an IPod. Ten years later BANG!! - Herpies.
Taco's Right! Coldplay sucks! (also never heard 'em)
Deja Vu
n. 1. The sensation that you've read this very article before.
From their HOW TO ENTER: apparently, you can enter and qualify by using their "tell a friend" feature for any particular song and sending it to itunes500@apple.com. Just click on the countdown timer at the top of the iTMS homepage and scroll down to the rules at the bottom of the page for more specifics (and someone tell me if I'm reading this thing wrong).
IIRC, there are laws in the US that say you can't require a purchase in order to enter a sweepstakes, and while free song-of-the-week are specified as ineligible for winning, this seems to be their way of complying.
I wrote a simple Perl program that extrapolates when each of the upcoming 100,000 songs will be purchased. It's probably quite wrong, but it was fun to write. I posted the code and the results in my blog. To sum up, my program predicts number 500 million will be at Fri Jul 15 05:09:29 2005 CDT (US/Central time)
It is impossible that the person purshasing the 500th million song will win this contest.
Technically, it doesn't have to take 500 million downloads to select the winner. As others have pointed out you can enter this contest for free by sending an email via the "tell a friend" feature.
If there are eligible email entries, at the time the winner is selected the number of downloaded songs has to be less than 500 million. Hence this contest is impossible.
summary is wrong: the rules explain the promotion doesn't start until 480,100,000, so only 200 (actually 199) iPod minis.
...when you read the above post and need about 30 seconds to realize that $infinity is not an undeclared var....
1. No sig. 2. ???? 3. Profit!!!
Yeah but that was after he watched X-Files in the dark with a big X taped on his window.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
Oh, you meant the first 500 million'th legally downloaded song.
oh ITMS Australia. Where for art thou ITMS Australia.
*mutter*
He immediately thought "Dang, the least the bastards who put me in this bathtub of ice could have done is compensated me for the hypothermia by leaving me a nice, warm kidney to play with".
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Finally I have a better way of getting one for free (see sig, which I get endless grief about)
lol
10100111001
Does anyone know how to check the statistics and see what they're at so far.
... to DRM'd music! Seriously people. The way to stop digital restrictions management from crippling the media you buy is to NOT BUY IT unless it's free and in the clear with NO DRM.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
You're all on crack. Either the article title is wrong, you guys speak french, or you can't count, but in english, 500 million = 500,000,000 Not 500,000 which is (cinq-cents mille)
My guess is that you just wrote up an "infinite" loop until the counter overflows its way back up to five-hundred thousand
Gravity Sucks
Second place gets 8 first row Coldplay tickets with back-stage passes.
On the bright side (emphasis mine):
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
You can use the iPod DRM free if you like. It's only the store - and even then there's Hymn to unlock the songs if you so wish and play them on anything that understands the AAC standard.
I support ITMS exactly because it has DRM I know I can bypass.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
taxes are technically unconstitutional, the 16th amendment wasn't properly ratified. so basically all the taxes you pay are actually voluntary :> damn communist america with its heavy progressive tax rates....
If you don't try and "correct" people when you have no idea what you're talking about, you won't look foolish when that's pointed out:
Eligibility. In order to be eligible, entrants must be 13 years of age or older, and a legal resident of one of the 50 United States, including Washington, D.C., Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.
(Source: TFA)
> and be listening to it 20 seconds later.
Alas, that's very close to why some of us can't use it:
I can go surfing around in iTMS, utterly fail to find a song I want, and be listening to my CD collection 20 seconds later.
iTunes is a spiffy idea and I'd happily use it, but I haven't even been able to use a free download I got, much less pay for additional ones. After looking for 4-6 songs on my to-get list and finding none of them on iTunes---often nothing from the bands, which get/got enough radio play that they're hardly niche---I gave up.
Ahh, well. With the 500Mth download impending, iTunes'll eventually convince record companies to put most of their music on there. Until then, there's always the horizon-broadening cornucopia of music offered up to my ears by the competition between a large number of identical ClearChannel radio stations. Sigh...
4. Eligibility. In order to be eligible, entrants must be 13 years of age or older, and a legal resident of one of the 50 United States, including Washington, D.C., Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.
Wow, didn't know Austria, Belgium, Canada etc. were included in the 50 United States!
- Peter Brodersen; professional nerd
What if 500th milion song would be purchased not by using iTunes, but something other, like pymusique?
:wq
People actually kill for ipods, so with 10 ipods you can save your live 9 times and you have still an ipod.
But seriously, I think it is meant to give the nine ipods away as gifts to your friends. Indeed, to do that you need some friends in the first place.
You fucking idiot.
The best time to buy a song with a chance of winning is during these slow times.
IANAL, but I believe this to be legal:
Buy the CD from Amazon.
Upload the CD to iTunes at highest possible encoding.
(The 128 bit songs from iTunes sound mushy and flat on high quality headphones.)
Donate the physical CD and case to your public library.
(It may even be tax deductable...)
If you can do this and get 5 friends to do the same,
The Librarian will thank you! (if she likes your music...)
And yes, you can check out music CDs just like books and enjoy them at home...
To the dedicated music fan there is rarely such a thing as "wasted media". I have talked about at length this with my (music loving) friends ... the best tracks on an album are the ones that require much time and patience to "get it". And if you rate an artist enough, you WILL put in that time and patience.
... its a shame that the ipod generation will miss out on this because they will simply delete the "crap" songs ...
Once you get it, you often find the they become the best tracks on the album
You will be able to find a lot of negative comments on Slashdot's karma system, arguing that doing certain things will improve your karma without these things necessarily being ethical. The strongest argument is writing "things people like to hear", and doing so early in the lifetime of the news entries.
However, I don't believe you have to be this tactical to gain mod points. I have only written messages whenever I felt like it, and whenever I felt I had something more or less important to say -- whether I then succeeded in writing something sensible, and whether people even saw it, is another thing.
Meta-moderating helps, if you have that enabled. I think your UID comes into play when deciding if you are eligible, as a percentage of the new userbase is always considered to be too new. I don't recall having been here for more than three years with this account, so I'm sure it should pop up for you once in a while. Completeing meta moderation should give you better karma -- at least, that's what appears logical to me.
I receive mod points a few times a month for doing what I currently am doing, so unless you have done something special to get yourself blacklisted, I believe you should be able to earn them. Keep in mind that the mod points disappear after not having used them in a couple of days. I think I've wasted quite a few mod points by not going to Slashdot every single day.
I hope this is useful to you.
Take off every 'ZIG' !!
I think you forgot something vitally important here...
4. ???
5. Profit!
Looks like Steve let his world domination plans slip.
It's just frovingslosh. I checked around.
Modded Interesting? Are you high?
Dear Thief of Pork Products:
Don't be so paranoid. It will further stunt your growth. Try the free entry method. Then you won't feel robbed. What irony.
Mom
Nothing's lossless, not even a CD. Any of these things represent analog soundwaves by sampling them and converting those samples into digital representations of the analog source.
CD quality is pretty decent, but there's a reason why SACD exists: it uses more data to encode the analog source, so it sounds better.
Become a student. Apple does loans. voila.
Also, some big brick and mortar retailers that do their own loans will match Apple's student price if you simply say that's the price they have to match or you're going somewhere else. No actual studenting necessary.
They are especially likely to offer you the discount if you buy AppleCare, which is the only extended warranty I've ever recommended but nonetheless has a very large retailer markup.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot