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iTunes Music Store downloads top 300 million

updated 08:50 am EST, Wed March 2, 2005

iTMS tops 300 million


Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 300 million songs from the . Additionally, the benefit single "Across the Universe," available exclusively on the iTunes Music Store, debuted as number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart making it the most successful exclusive digital track ever in its first week of release. "We're honored to offer "Across the Universe" exclusively on the iTunes Music Store with all proceeds going to tsunami survivors and their families," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Applications.

Apple says the iTunes Music Store features more than one million songs and continues to add great music in all categories, including this week's addition of classic live recordings from the Grateful Dead -- the two-track "Dick's Picks" series and the multi-track "Vault" series -- and an exclusive version of Jack Johnson's new album "In Between Dreams" which includes a digital booklet.


by MacNN Staff

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 industry, digital music/video

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  1. evansls

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2004

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    03/02, 09:30am | report spam | Reply |

    nice!

    Based on Apple's press releases, this is how iTunes performed since the push for 100 million back in July 2004. Notice how iTunes recently sold 50 million songs in under a week? It normally takes about 2 months to reach that number!

    07/12/04 = 100,000,000
    09/02/04 = 125,000,000
    10/14/04 = 150,000,000
    12/16/04 = 200,000,000
    02/24/05 = 250,000,000
    03/02/05 = 300,000,000

  1. mamamia

    Junior Member

    Joined: Mar 2001

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    03/02, 10:02am | report spam | Reply |

    50 million in one week

    perhasp related to the Pepsi promo?

  1. cameronx

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    Joined: Mar 2004

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    03/02, 10:02am | report spam | Reply |

    Re: nice!

    Songs are now downloaded at a rate of about 1.35 million per day... The date you have for the 250 million songs announcment is wrong--it's actually 1/24/04, indicating that it last took Apple about 37 days to sell the last fifty million.

  1. evansls

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2004

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    03/02, 10:07am | report spam | Reply |

    follow up to my post...

    If the pace can be met, Apple will probably reach a billion sold by Fall 2005. To some degree I'm pleased that Apple is doing so well. I love the fact that if I want to share an iMovie of mine online, the majority of the time people already have QuickTime installed on their PCs, because iTunes is installed. I remember how annoying it was 2 years ago when PC people I knew hated the idea of putting Apple software on their computer and now they do it with no problem! Bizarre how their love for the iPod can influence such a dramatic change!

    I guess the whole one music store idea is starting to annoy me a bit even though I love and always praise the iTunes music store for ease of use and innovation! I guess to help put my thoughts into perspective, imagine if you could only play DVDs on a single brand name DVD player? Imagine you could only play CDs on a single brand CD player? Imagine if you could only buy music from Best Buy!

    I guess the argument could be is why don't Playstation 2 games play on an XBox or Nintendo? You're right! It makes perfect sense why Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have titles available only (sometimes temporarily like Grand Theft Auto titles) for their systems. *cough* Halo, which was originally to be a Mac title *cough* Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony want fans to buy their machines, because of the exclusive titles! Everyone's in the business of making money! So in a sense, that's the same approach I see Apple doing with their store and the iPod. The music are the games and the iPod is the video game system. Makes sense, right? But still - I just wish I could take my iPod elsewhere to other online stores to purchase music, because I like the freedom of purchasing online rather than the store! It's so much cheaper and easier, which is why I purchase so much online! Eventually I'm sure this will change and I'm sure another reason behind this is music downloads don't equal a lot of revenue revenue. Apple has even said this and the store compliments the iPod, because it sells iPods. I can just see this biting Apple in the end, so I hope one day the decide to license the DRM to other stores. Anyway...

  1. evansls

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    03/02, 10:10am | report spam | Reply |

    evansls

    cameronx - thank you for pointing that out.
    you are correct. here is the post: www.macnn.com/articles/05/01/24/250.million.itunes.songs/

  1. cambolo

    Junior Member

    Joined: Feb 2001

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    03/02, 11:28am | report spam | Reply |

    date still wrong

    The correct date is 01/24/2005, not 2004.

  1. testudo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

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    03/02, 12:16pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: pepsi promo

    I think the pepsi promo will have some affect on downloads (remember, this is downloads, not sales, so all those weekly free songs count - the pepsi songs aren't free, pepsi's paying for them, but probably at a discount), and who knows, maybe they'll do better this time around, but last year people only redeemed some 5-10%, wasn't it? Which would be about another 2.5-5 million songs.

    Although the real hope for apple is that people will spend one free cap and then another $58 on music. Don't know if it'll happen, I guess we'll just have to watch the download number.

  1. mbryda

    Senior User

    Joined: Mar 2002

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    03/02, 12:25pm | report spam | Reply |

    Wouldn't care

    "imagine if you could only play DVDs on a single brand name DVD player? Imagine you could only play CDs on a single brand CD player? Imagine if you could only buy music from Best Buy!"

    It's more like this:
    Imagine you bought a CD/DVD player. You could only play brand X disks on it. But, those disks are the same price as brand Y with the same selection as brand Y. What's the incentive to switch to brand Y?

    Or:
    You can only buy brand X at Best Buy. But Circuit City sells Brand Y and has the same selection. But the 2 are the same exact price. If I can only use Brand X and it's the same price as Brand Y who cares if I can only use X?

  1. koolkid1976

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2003

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    03/02, 12:38pm | report spam | Reply |

    re: follow up to my post.

    While you won't be playing Halo2 on your Playstation2, is there any music on Napster or the other music store that you won't ever be playing on your iPod? Either it eventually becomes available on iTunes; you buy it from the other stores then burn it to CD before you transfer it to the iPod; or you go out and buy the CD.

    I'm trying to figure out if you actually experience inconvenience by being locked in. Or if your if it's just a perception of inconvenience. I don't have an iPod, so I don't have first hand experience.

  1. evansls

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2004

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    03/03, 01:52am | report spam | Reply |

    great questions!

    mbryda, you make an absolute strong case. why would i want to go somewhere else when the other stores have the same music at the same price? well, if the .99 price point can't be beat then my answer would be for the exclusive downloads, intuitive experience and innovative features!

    i love target more than walmart, but i've noticed walmart has better prices on many of the items i purchase consistently. maybe it's my subconscious that votes for target over walmart enough though i love to save money... but for some reason target simply appeals more to me! so, i'll travel to target more often than not... maybe because of the creative marketing, maybe because of the store layout, maybe because of the customer service (laughing at the last answer). the point is that i have the choice to decide to go to either one or by pass them all together and check out the local grocery store instead!

    koolkid1976, great question. i used napster in january to see what all the fuss was about and i had a horrible experience. i couldn't tell off hand what was a "download" vs. "streaming music", the design was incredibly busy/hard to read and i had a difficult time finding some of my favorite music choices like movie soundtracks. the positives i enjoyed about napster was the bulk sale downloads that were offered, able to browse people's selections, and the magazine was kinda clever too. i've used rhapsody's store a lot more than napster and find their experience much easier. i know instantly what can be streamed and what can only be burned. their interface is much cleaner, but finding new tuesday music can sometimes be a burden if i don't access the page from the homepage. overall itunes is the best experience, but just like sales during peak holiday seasons, or promotions for new customers, etc. i may want to participate, you know? so, although i don't lose sleep over this (but think about it from time to time). i would have to say it is the perception of inconvenience, because i can see myself wanting to use the other stores sometime in the future - if something good comes along that they offer.

    i think apple should market the iTunes music store (just like they did so well for the ipod) in a way that people would WANT to come to the store, not because they HAVE too. by crippling choice to use other online music stores with the ipod, apple has guaranteed their store will prosper as long as people buy ipods! that's all i'm trying to say...

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