Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Sound Amplified Cradle for iPhone from Kensington, $39.99
- SigFx Energy iPhone Case Contains Smart Battery from SigFx Energy, US$69.95
- NAVIGON AG - True GPS Software for the iPhone from NAVIGON Inc., 89.99
- Tweetie 2 from atebits, $2.99
- Snood: Flawed Casual Play from Electronic Arts, US$3.99
Premier Sponsors
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
- U2
U2's latest entry is a mostly underwhelming collection of songs that does very little to sound any different from its equally pedestrian predecessor, 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind." While
- Wolfmother
Black Sabbath, The White Stripes, The Stooges. There aren't many bands worth their salt that want to be compared to other bands, but when I listen to Wolfmother's self-titled American debut, I can
The Last 5 Years (2002 Off-Broadway Cast)
- Jason Robert Brown
- The soundtrack to this moving off-broadway musical is heart moving. The lyrics follow a couple in a relationship for five years, one point of view going forward in time, and the other tracing time fr
- Harvey Danger
The sophomore effort from Harvey Danger, I was really looking forward to this followup to "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" Unfortunately, "King James Version" failed to deliver any of the bri
- R.E.M.
- In the long series of R.E.M.'s evolution, this album (finally?) showcases their ability to capture on tape what had been happening in the live for years: heartfelt, sweat-filled performances that just
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
News
iTunes Store Turns 5, Sports Over 10M Songs
Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 4:00 PM - by Jeff Gamet
Apple’s iTunes Store turned five on Monday, and has gone from offering a slim 200,000 songs to over 10 million during its first half decade in action. The online music service has grown to include podcasts, audio books, TV shows and movies, growing beyond its music-based roots.
 iTunes Turns 5 |
|---|
The iTunes Store, originally known as the iTunes Music Store, was the first -- and in some eyes the only -- legit online music service to show any level of success and staying power. Instead of offering music for rent priced on a sliding scale, Apple took the novel approach of selling all of its songs for a flat US$0.99 each.
At the initial iTunes Music Store launch Apple CEO Steve Jobs commented "The iTunes Music Store offers the revolutionary rights to burn an unlimited number of CDs for personal use and to put music on an unlimited number of iPods for on-the-go listening. Consumers don’t want to be treated like criminals and artists don’t want their valuable work stolen. The iTunes Music Store offers a groundbreaking solution for both."
TMO’s take on the iTunes Music Store went like this:
Apple may very well have itself a winner with their new music service. There are several major points of interest here. First of all, the five major record labels are backing the service. This is huge for any online music service to be successful. Secondly, Apple made the move to the higher quality AAC format -- a step that could signal a move away from MP3s on down the road. Finally, the $0.99 per song is very reasonable, with $10 per album being quite a steal. As with any service of this nature, it remains to be seen how consumers will respond. In this case, however, we believe Apple might have hit a homerun.
Apple has since added 256kbps AAC-encoded iTunes Plus tracks to its original 128kbps offerings, and has dropped copy protection from many of the tracks offered by EMI. It also moved into the education world with iTunes U, began offering games for the iPod, added the ability to download songs wirelessly with an iPod touch or iPhone
Apple is celebrating five years of the iTunes Store with a retrospecive of each year’s best selling albums, best selling songs, and staff favorites.
Recent Headlines
- Apple TV 3.0.1 Update Fixes Missing Content Bug
- Taiwan Leak Shows Verizon UTMS/CDMA iPhone for Q3 2010
- iPhone Moves Into RadioShack
- Dictionary, Dictionary, Dictionary, And More
- The Latest App Store Games: Gravity Sling, RocketBird, Ground Effect, Checkers!
- iPhone Game Developer Sued for Collecting User’s Cell Numbers
- Apple May Be Bringing RFID to the iPhone
Post Your Comments