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iTMS Moving Up The Sales Charts
Kyusaku Natsume writes "According to the NPD Group, Apple's iTunes Music Store has sold more music than Tower Records and Borders in the U.S., based on sales and download figures for July, August, and September." From the article: "At seventh equal in the chart was iTunes, up seven places on the same period last year. Both Tower Records and Borders slipped a place to seven and nine respectively. Russ Crupnick, music and movies industry analyst for NPD, said he would not be surprised if iTunes was to continue to climb the charts, especially in the run-up to Christmas when iPods are high on many present lists."
Well my kids enjoy the Chipmunks I got last week and I couldn't find it in a normal shop.
aedan
I'm also somewhat hesitant about accepting these figures. Online, CDBaby nearly outsells Amazon.com, yet it's nowhere to be seen in this chart. It is of course always possible that they're at position 11 or thereabouts (Hey Derek: you reading? Any idea?), but likewise it wouldn't surprise me at all if they'd been completely disregarded, given that they only sell independent artists...
cdbaby.net/dd
Something similar happened to me. I mailed Apple and they let me redownload anything (and added something to the effect of, "don't do this again").
Did you even think to e-mail Apple after they wiped out $400, or did you just make up the story and the whine on slashdot?
My other car is first.
>> Sure my old library was there but it was drmed and grayed out. I tried to remerge and set myself as teh new owner of the ipod since I tried all options. Itunes deleted about $400 worth of music and wiped my whole collection clean. :-(
Oh well, you should have asked someone who knows how to use a computer first.
Here is how it works: Step 1: Make copies of your songs on data CDs or data DVDs. Doesn't matter that they are DRM'd, you can copy the files without any problems, you just can't _play_ them on a different computer. Step 2: Unregister your computer with iTMS (not fatal if you forget this step). Step 3: Reformat your system (since that is what you were doing anyway). Step 4: Copy all the DRM'd files back to your computer. Step 5: Register that computer again with iTMS if needed. Step 6: Should you run out of registrations (you can register five computers), tell Apple to unregister _all_ your computers, then go back to Step 4.
I called the tech support number on iTunes and told them that the hard drive on my computer failed, and that I lost all my songs. The lady I talked to spent 5 minutes with me "refreshing" my account. At the end I opened iTunes, clicked on advanced-> check for purchases, and then all of the songs I had bought from iTunes re-downloaded. That didn't help for all the songs I had that I did not buy from iTunes, but apple was very easy to deal with, and allowed me to "re-own" the music I had bought from them. Now I run a back up script every week, cause it's just easier, but apple definitely lets to download your music again if you wish too.
Also, if you want something more "concrete" you can burn from apple's lossless format to a CD, and then put the CD in your rack.
This list has some tough implications for the RIAA and its members. None of the top four companies gets most of its revenue from music. They're all very strong companies used to telling their suppliers what prices they want to see. The classic "record store" chains, Tower and Sam Goody, are falling off the list.
Some of the changes just reflect consolidation in the record store industry. FYE is a classic "record store" chain. It's really Trans World Entertainment, the result of mergers between Wherehouse, Record Town, Camelot Music, and Strawberries. Stores in malls carry the FYE brand ("offering a consistent mall-based retailing experience"), while freestanding stores bear the names Wherehouse Music, Coconuts Music & Movies, Strawberries, Spec's, CD World, Streetside Records and Planet Music.
Also, don't forget that Wal-Mart sells music on-line. Even if the RIAA can bully Apple into raising the song price for iPods, that's not going to work with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart just won't tolerate suppliers increasing their prices. They'll find other suppliers. Note the growing list of "Wal-Mart exclusives".