iTunes Music Store winding up the year with sales, accolades
I may have been a little skeptical when it was first launched, but Apple has had a great first year with the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). No other music service has come close in sales. Since the launch in April, Apple has sold 25 million songs. AdAge picked Apple as Marketer of the Year. Time named iTMS Invention of the Year. Fortune called iTMS Product of the Year.
Wow. That’s quite a year. I think that iTMS is a great product, but I agree with the criticisms about Apple’s “closed system”: iTMS songs only work on iPod and songs from other stores don’t work on the iPod. I’m guessing that Apple is playing this smart, though. Despite being cool, iTMS is not a money maker; the iPod is. They’re going to hold on to their big market share as long as they can. Will they open up if market pressures force them to? Hard to say. They’ve been clinging on to single-digit percentages of the desktop market share for a long time… maybe they’ll be happy with a small slice of the pie as the pie grows.
Actually, iTMS is not a closed system. The underlying AAC technology is open source and other music services are free to include AAC versions of music on thier sites and other portable music device manufacturers are free to add AAC technology to thier devices. They choose instead, as most people do, to stick with the easy(lazy) choice and use the Microsoft Technology, which by the way is a closed/proprietary technology.
Looks like I spelled “their” wrong (twice). I guess that’s why there is a preview button.
You can convert iTMS songs to AIFF/WAV by highlighting and clicking convert. There’s also a utilty (3rd party) that allows you to convert it straight to an Mp3.
The ipod/itunes plays 4 open standards formats (Mp3, AAC, AIFF & WAV) and 1 closed (Audible’s audio books format).
Because the other music stores don’t have the clout to negotiate with the record labels, they just get the turnkey WMA - which is a locked and proprietary format.
Not to mention the wacky and sundry restrictions that may or may not come with each song:
Can listen but not download.
Can stream but not download.
Can download as long as subscription is active.
Can listen to song as long as I don’t sell this PC.
Can download and burn to 3,5 or unlimited CD’s (varies by song).
Not permitted to copy to Mp3 player.
Not permitted to copy to Mp3 player unless converted to ATRA Mp3.
Is it any wonder that itunes & ipod is THE ONLY WAY TO GO?
Just remember. WMA - Hertz. ITMS - BMW dealership. Both are in your driveway but you have actual ownership versus paying by the mile.
First of all, just to make it doubly clear, I’m a big fan of both iTunes and the iPod. I probably won’t buy any more CDs, because of iTMS.
Apple did a stellar job when they did their licensing for iTMS. The consistency is a *huge* selling point, I think.
I didn’t have the impression that AAC with DRM compatible with Apple’s is “open”, as in anyone can go and make devices with it. Apple would certainly not go out of their way to encourage it, because they make their money from the iPod, not iTMS.
Next year is going to be an interesting one for the music biz, and Apple has a commanding lead. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what they do with it.