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In This Issue » Games & Tech » Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

the snazzy new music download service

Written by: Elisabeth W., Associate Editor – Posted: Mon May 12th, 2003
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Apple launched the newest and snazziest MP3 file downloading service, called iTunes on April 28th with the music labels BMG, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal and Warner on board for the ride with high hopes that a paying music service would actually stay afloat and be here to stay.

Chief executive officer Doug Morris of Universal Music group said "Our internal measure of success was having the iTunes Music Store sell one million songs in the first month. To do this in one week is an over-the-top success." Although Apple only covers about 5% of the computer market, its audience is known to be of the techno-savvy musical and artsy sort, although many critics didn't believe that people who would pay 99˘ per song would actually buy. They did.

iTunes 4 is the new iTunes digital music jukebox package that contains enhanced features and the iTunes Music Store. According to Apple, the store offers over 200,000 songs to choose from. The store itself pops into the window inside the iTunes program screen, showing the latest additions, top ten downloads, as well as various other perks, such as exclusive tracks from various artists, streaming music videos and a music request service to ask Apple to add your favorite band's tracks.
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I forgot to meantion something....using iTunes you can TRADE music
between users. You have to be using Jaguar, version 10.2.4 in
order to do this, but leaving the whole file sharing thing out of
the article wasn't very bright. While I appreciate that you have
an article about Apple products, next time, read up and experiment
using the product a little.
Thanks, Anna. You saved me a lot of typing. :)
I own a 600mhz iBook, and my family owns a very old iMac. It
originally ran version 8.1!

It's frustrating, because the vast majority of PC users have no
clue as to what Macs are like. The last time many of them used
macs was before the newer operating system, OSX came out. I
would highly suggest that anyone out in kiwi take a look at a mac
computer. Sure, it's a little different than a PC, and it takes a
few seconds to get used to, but your Mac will NEVER crash, will
have superior graphics, speed, and audio for a fraction of the
cost of what an IBM equivalent would be.

And about the 5% of the computer field being Macs...well, all that
really says is that 5% of the audience has found something awesome
and continue to buy that product, while the rest of them settle
for what they THINK and are told by computer "experts" that it's a
good computer, when really, it's a piece of shit.

Bobbi
Hey wuts up? im bored, that is dumb! ahhh feel free to isntant
message me cuz im sooo bored!
yahoo: katie_iverson3
aol: KrazieKangaroo3
msn: basketball_chick3@msn.com

i am 14.f.ca and id luv ta chat with you!
MACS are awesome. I have an iBook (800mhz) and an old version of
the iMac. Sure PCs are less expensive, but they screw up much
more.
Thats stupid!
Why pay to download songs when;
1)You can get it for free with Kazaa.
2)Its Illegal
3)Its BOOTLEG!
AND
4)The name "iTUNES" sounds GAY!

SoMeOnE write me a note please!
BOYZ ARE FABULOUS!
Hey Wassup you guys on kiwibox??? lol That sounds funny lol
der- this article was crafted by a peecee peoples. They did not
get their facts right.
1) It wasn't iTunes that Apple recently released. iTunes was
around since OS X first came out back in March 2001. Thus, iTunes
wouldn't be in its FOURTH version if it was just being released.
However, what WAS being released was a) a new version of iTunes,
and more importantly b) the iTunes MUSIC STORE.
2) About the Computer Market thing. The fact that we only take up
5% of the computer market doesn't mean jack shit. What matters is
that we're loyally returning customers that buy stuff.
3) Believe it, we buy lots of stuff. Why would we get a crappy
download, when that'd waste our time trying to get it to download,
AND, it'd drive us nuts because the sound quality was very poor
(and many of us do audio work, so we know)... we're spoiled. we
just want the best... so we buy our music, and it sounds more
clear, more pristine than anything that came off of Kazaa or
Limewire.
4) The reason those other music services failed is because they
made you RENT your music, not BUY it. Also, it was also filled
with that subscription garbage. The iTunes music store isn't like
that. You buy it, you keep it. No subscription.
5) with the release of iTunes 4.0.1, Apple took a few more copy
protection measures- they'll only let you share your stuff between
3 Macs, only let you burn 10 CDs of the song, yet it'll let you
put them on unlimited number of iPods (see where this is going?
It's an apple upgrade strategy!)
6) The AAC encoding is not more compressed than an MP3. It is
actually BETTER quality than an MP3. It does take a little bit
more room than an MP3, however, the AAC format actually is trying
to substitute for the AIFF format-the standard audio format found
on store-bought audio CDs. AIFF files can be HUGE (like, 40 MB for
a 3 minute song). This is due to the fact that they are not really
compressed, yet still very high quality. MP3's on the other hand,
are very compressed, yet extremely low quality when compared to an
AIFF file of the same 3 minute song- this time, the song is only
2.6 MB instead of 40 MB. The AAC format makes a favorable bridge
between the two formats- the high quality of the AIFF file, with a
smaller file size closer to the size of an MP3. The AAC format was
implemented by Dolby, by the way, for another fact tidbit.
7) They are NOT MP3's, they're AAC's!! damnit! Get it right! AAC's
are better than MP3's!!!!
8) Actually, I have been to the iTunes Music Store before... girl
I dont know what machine you're running iTunes on, but it wasn't
slow loading to me. 800Mhz G4 iMac here... in fact, it wasn't slow
loading on my sister's 700Mhz G3 iBook either...
9) when the iTunes music store first came out, I admit their
variety was quite a bit slim. However, they are adding thousands
of songs every single day (I even nagged them about not having
backstreet boys at first, and whoosh, now they've got them! Same
for several other artists. I wish other companies listen like
Apple)
10) iTunes isn't in its infancy- the iTunes music store is. Again,
note the difference between the two.
11) Bug parents for iTunes 4 @ christmas? It doesn't cost
anything- it's a FREE DOWNLOAD!! lol In fact, it has been coming
bundled on new machines for at least more than 2 years now! (since
Mac OS X first started coming out in March 2001). A Windows
version should be out by the end of the year though.

-Anna

Either you're a Mac user or you're not studied up or something,
but you know what? You didn't study up before you did this
article, right? I saw lots of factual inaccuracies. Dont just read
or assume, try it, use it, or at least open the app and look
around in it.
bleh, i woudl never use itunes cuz it dont hav enuff songz and i
can get it for free so y would i pay?
I've had iTunes on my mac since I bought it two years ago. I'm
sorry, but this isn't a new thing. Please try to get your facts
right in the future.
I like boys. :)
hi, i just started poking around
i've had iTunes on my Mac for a year and a half....