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. on April 28, 2003, for Mac OS X, and later for Microsoft Windows. It also became a mobile application for iOS on June 29, 2007.

Originally, the iTunes Store sold mobile applications and e-books, but these were later moved to the App Store and iBooks Store, respectively. 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 on June 30, 2015, changed how people listened to music.

History

Steve Jobs saw a chance to create 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, and they could listen to it on iTunes or on iPods. At first, it worked only 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 available on most Apple devices, such as Mac computers, iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, and Apple TVs. It can also be used on Windows computers. Video purchases can be watched on Apple TV apps on Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, as well as some smart TVs.

Unlike some other Apple services, the iTunes Store does not have a web-based version, except for some preview pages. You need to have the iTunes application installed 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. Over the years, it has added more types of content, like 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. There are also special offers where prices are lower.

The iTunes Store offers movies and TV shows for rent or purchase. Rental prices depend on how popular the movie is and whether it's in high definition. There are also free episodes of TV shows available sometimes.

Developers can sell apps through the iTunes Store. Apps can be free or cost different amounts, decided 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 people buy and download content directly to their iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches, and Apple TVs. There are special apps for buying music, videos, books, podcasts, and educational materials.

Originally, you needed to be connected to Wi-Fi to use the store on mobile devices. Later updates allowed users to download smaller files over cellular networks like 3G. Over time, the download limits for cellular increased to allow bigger files to 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 certain words in song titles. This can sometimes cause problems where innocent titles get blocked by mistake because of the words they contain. Songs that are marked as having certain words or phrases 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 also have a "clean" version, which means the words have been changed so they follow the rules, and everyone can buy them. Usually, there is also an explicit version available 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, and more than 1 million tracks were sold in its 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 in that time.

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 to help increase soundtrack sales. By August 10, 2004, the iTunes Music Store had a catalog of more than one million songs and held a 70 percent share of legal music downloads.

Sales milestones

Music

The iTunes Store hit many exciting sales milestones over the years. Some of these include selling 100 million songs in July 2004, 500 million songs in July 2005, and 1 billion songs in February 2006. By February 2010, the store had sold 10 billion songs, and by June 2011, it reached 15 billion songs sold.

Video

For videos, 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 feature-length films. In October 2008, the store sold over 200 million television episodes and more than 1 million HD episodes.

Applications

The app download milestones began with 10 million apps downloaded on July 14, 2008. By April 23, 2009, the iTunes Store had reached 1 billion apps downloaded. The store continued to grow, reaching 100 billion apps downloaded by June 8, 2015, and 250 billion apps downloaded by December 2016.

Market share

On September 12, 2006, it was announced that the iTunes Store held 88% of the legal US music download market. By April 11, 2007, it had sold more than two million movies, making it the world's most popular online movie store. On February 26, 2008, the iTunes Store became the second-largest music vendor in the US behind Walmart. By October 10, 2012, the iTunes Store had a 64% share of the online music market and a 29% share of all music sales worldwide.

Internationalization

At first, only users with a US address on Mac computers could buy songs. Then, Steve Jobs announced plans to support Windows users and people outside the United States. The Windows version of iTunes became available on October 16, 2003. Starting in 2004, the store opened in many countries beyond the United States.

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.

• The European stores sold 800,000 songs in just one week, with many sold in the UK.
• Stores in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Greece were adjusted 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 just 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 announced plans to 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 once used a special technology called FairPlay to protect songs and other content from being used on unauthorized devices. This caused some problems because it limited which devices could play the music. Over time, Apple worked with music companies to remove these restrictions.

In 2009, Apple began offering most music without these restrictions, making it easier for customers to enjoy their purchases on different devices. However, some content like movies and books still has these protections today.

Promotions

Apple started several fun giveaways to celebrate big moments. On Super Bowl Sunday in 2004, they worked with Pepsi to give away 100 million songs using special codes on soda bottle caps. Later, they 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. Later, when 500 million songs were sold, the winner got many prizes, including tickets to see Coldplay perform.

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

Technical details

The iTunes Store uses standard web pages to show its content. This started when iTunes version 9.0 came out. These pages can also be viewed on the web at iTunes.apple.com, so they appear in search results.

Before version 9.0, the store used a special format to arrange all the elements and images. The store uses Apple's own software for its backend, and Apple has a special program called iTunes Producer to help upload content. Apple also created its own way to compress music without losing quality, called Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). Artists and record labels can upload music in a 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 dispute with Apple Computer over the name "Apple." In 2006, a court ruled in favor of Apple Computer, but Apple Records planned to appeal. Despite this, they announced plans to remaster and release The Beatles' music online. In 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs played Beatles songs during a keynote, suggesting their music would soon be on iTunes. Later that year, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps settled their dispute.

In 2006, consumer groups in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark raised concerns about iTunes' terms of service, saying they were unfair to customers. They argued that the terms were unclear, gave Apple too much control, and did not protect customers' rights. Apple responded, and in 2007, consumer groups from Germany and France joined the effort, pushing for 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 and could take their songs off iTunes if they didn’t agree on prices.

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, but Universal chose to sell them without protection only on other services.

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.

Apple said NBC wanted to charge more for each show, but NBC said that wasn’t true. They said Apple didn’t want to sell shows in packages or change prices in other ways. 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, which is a lot more than it cost in the US.