ITunes Store

The iTunes Store was a digital marketplace where people could buy songs, albums, music videos, ringtones, and alert tones. It was launched by Apple Inc. in 2003 for Mac OS X, and later for Microsoft Windows. It also became a mobile application for iOS in 2007.

Originally, the iTunes Store sold mobile applications and e-books, but these were later moved to the App Store and iBooks Store. It also offered podcasts, films, and TV shows, which are now part of Apple TV and Apple Podcasts.

The iTunes Store was created as part of then-CEO Steve Jobs’s vision to build a digital marketplace for music. At the time it started, it was the only place where people could legally download songs from all the major record labels, which helped it become very popular. Over time, music streaming services like Apple Music, launched in 2015, changed how people listened to music.

History

Steve Jobs saw a way to make a digital place to buy music because people loved downloading songs. In 2002, he made a deal with big music companies to sell their songs on iTunes. The iTunes Music Store, later called the iTunes Store, started in April 2003. People could buy music using the iTunes app. They could listen to it on iTunes or on iPods. At first, it only worked on Mac computers, but later it came to Microsoft Windows computers in October 2003.

By April 2008, the iTunes Store was the biggest music seller in the United States, and by February 2010, it was the biggest in the world. In early 2011, it made almost US$1.4 billion in just three months. By May 2014, it had sold 35 billion songs everywhere. Later, in 2016, people started buying music more by streaming it instead of downloading, so downloads went down. In 2018, the iTunes app came to Windows 10 computers, and in 2019, it came to Samsung Smart TVs. In October 2019, iTunes changed on Mac computers, splitting into separate apps for Music, TV, and Podcasts. Movies and TV shows moved to the TV app, and music moved to the Music app.

Features and restrictions

The iTunes Store is on most Apple devices like Mac computers, iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, and Apple TVs. You can also use it on Windows computers. You can watch videos on Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, and some smart TVs.

The iTunes Store does not have a web version, except for a few preview pages. You need the iTunes app to browse and buy content.

The iTunes Store sells songs, albums, music videos, ringtones, and more. It started in 2003 and was one of the first digital music stores. Later, it added apps, movies, and TV shows.

When you buy music, songs usually cost 99 cents, but popular songs can cost more. Albums usually cost $9.99, but popular ones can cost more too. Sometimes there are special offers with lower prices.

The iTunes Store has movies and TV shows for rent or purchase. Rental prices change based on popularity and quality. Sometimes there are free TV show episodes.

Developers can sell apps through the iTunes Store. Apps can be free or cost different amounts, chosen by the developer. When someone buys an app, Apple takes 30 percent of the price, and the developer gets the rest.

The iTunes Store lets you buy and download content straight to your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Apple TV. There are special apps for buying music, videos, books, podcasts, and learning materials.

At first, you needed Wi-Fi to use the store on mobile devices. Later updates let users download smaller files over cellular networks like 3G. Over time, the download limits for cellular got bigger, so more files could be downloaded away from Wi-Fi.

Censorship

Main articles: Censorship by Apple and Censorship of the iTunes Store

The iTunes Store has rules to block some words in song titles. This can sometimes block songs by mistake. Songs with certain words will show "explicit" next to their title. If a family sets their settings to block these marks, they won't be able to buy that song. Some songs may have a "clean" version, where the words are changed so they follow the rules, and everyone can buy them. There is often an explicit version for those who don't mind the original words.

Reception and commercial success

In its first 18 hours, the iTunes Store sold about 275,000 tracks. More than 1 million tracks were sold in the first 5 days. When it launched on Windows in October 2003, the iTunes program was downloaded more than 1 million times in the first 3 days, selling over 1 million songs.

By December 15, 2003, Apple announced that it had sold 25 million songs. In January 2004, Steve Jobs announced that someone had spent US$29,500 on music. By March 15, 2004, customers had purchased and downloaded 50 million songs from the iTunes Music Store. By April 28, 2004, the store had sold 70 million songs and become a major player in the online music market. The store also began offering movie trailers and music videos. By August 10, 2004, the iTunes Music Store had a catalog of more than one million songs.

Sales milestones

Music

The iTunes Store reached many sales goals over the years. It sold 100 million songs in July 2004, 500 million songs in July 2005, and 1 billion songs in February 2006. By February 2010, it had sold 10 billion songs, and by June 2011, 15 billion songs.

Video

The iTunes Store sold its first million videos on October 31, 2005. By January 10, 2007, it had sold 50 million television episodes and 1.3 million movies. In October 2008, it sold over 200 million television episodes and more than 1 million HD episodes.

Applications

People downloaded 10 million apps on July 14, 2008. By April 23, 2009, the iTunes Store had 1 billion apps downloaded. By June 8, 2015, it reached 100 billion apps, and by December 2016, 250 billion apps.

Market share

On September 12, 2006, the iTunes Store had 88% of the legal US music download market. By April 11, 2007, it sold more than two million movies. On February 26, 2008, the iTunes Store became the second-largest music vendor in the US behind Walmart. By October 10, 2012, it had 64% of the online music market and 29% of all music sales worldwide.

Internationalization

At first, only people in the US with Mac computers could buy songs. Then, Steve Jobs said iTunes would work for Windows users and people outside the US. The Windows version of iTunes came out on October 16, 2003. Starting in 2004, the store opened in many countries.

To buy from the store, you needed a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, or you had to install the iTunes software on a Windows or Mac computer.

• European stores sold 800,000 songs in one week, with many sold in the UK.
• Stores in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Greece were changed to their local languages.
• In the US and Canada, prices do not include sales tax, unlike in other countries.
• Japan’s store started with one million songs and sold another million in four days.
• When video-capable iPods came out, the store opened in Australia, adding music videos and short films by Pixar.
• On November 1, 2006, the store began offering Latino content, including TV shows and music, for Hispanic American, Mexican, and Puerto Rican users.
• The Spanish used in the Mexican store was changed to Mexican Spanish.
• As of 2009, Apple had not said if they would add more TV shows, movies, or music videos to stores in many European countries. Only the UK, Germany, and France had local selections of these items.

Payment options

To pay, users needed an iTunes gift card or a credit card with an address in one of many supported countries. Apple also offered other payment methods like PayPal, but these varied by country. People living elsewhere could buy a gift card or download free podcasts and previews.

Digital rights management

Main article: FairPlay

The iTunes Store used a technology called FairPlay to keep songs and other content safe from being used on unauthorized devices. This made it harder to use the music on some devices. Over time, Apple worked with music companies to make music easier to use on different devices.

In 2009, Apple started offering most music without these limits, so customers could enjoy their music on many devices. However, some content like movies and books still has these limits today.

Promotions

Apple started fun giveaways to celebrate special events. On Super Bowl Sunday in 2004, they worked with Pepsi to give away 100 million songs. People could find special codes on soda bottle caps to get the songs.

Later, Apple gave away an iPod Mini every hour for a whole month.

Apple also gave away prizes when certain numbers of songs were sold. For example, when the 100 millionth song was sold, the buyer won a special PowerBook, an iPod, and $10,000. When 500 million songs were sold, the winner got prizes, including tickets to see Coldplay perform.

These promotions helped people discover and enjoy music through the iTunes Store.

Technical details

The iTunes Store shows its content on standard web pages. This started with iTunes version 9.0. You can also see these pages on the web at iTunes.apple.com.

Before version 9.0, the store used a special format for its elements and images. The store uses Apple's own software for its backend. Apple has a program called iTunes Producer to help upload content. Apple also made its own way to compress music without losing quality, called Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). Artists and record labels can upload music in high-quality format for the best sound.

Legal disputes

Main article: Apple Inc. litigation

Main article: Apple Corps v. Apple Computer

For three years, The Beatles record company, Apple Records, had a legal issue with Apple Computer about the name "Apple." In 2006, a court decided for Apple Computer, but Apple Records wanted to argue more. Even so, they said they would improve and release The Beatles music online. In 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs played Beatles songs during a talk, showing their music would come to iTunes soon. Later that year, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps solved their problem.

In 2006, some groups in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark said iTunes rules were not fair to customers. They thought the rules were confusing, gave Apple too much power, and did not help protect customers rights. Apple answered, and in 2007, groups from Germany and France also joined to help get better rights for users across Europe.

Content disputes

Universal Music Group

In July 2007, a big music company called Universal decided not to renew its agreement to sell songs through iTunes. They wanted to change how they sold music.

In August 2007, Universal started selling some songs without special protection called “Digital rights management” through other websites like Amazon Music. These songs were still available on iTunes.

NBC Universal TV series

In August 2007, Apple said that shows from NBC would not be on iTunes for a while. NBC had decided not to renew their agreement with Apple. This only affected shows made by NBCUniversal, like the show House. But other NBC shows made by different companies, like Chuck and Journeyman, stayed on iTunes.

NBC said their shows would still be on iTunes until December, but on December 1, 2007, NBC shows left iTunes.

Then, in September 2008, Apple and NBC agreed again, and NBC shows came back to the US iTunes Store.

In the UK, many NBC shows are sold through iTunes, but they cost more than they did in the US. For example, the third season of The Office cost £43 in 2008.