iTunes Store

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iTunes Store
Opened: April 28, 2003 (as iTunes Music Store)
Pricing: Music/TV & Music Videos/Movies
Flag of the United States: US $0.99/1.99+ /9.99+
Flag of Canada: CA $0.99/2.29 (select videos are available for CA $1.49)/NA
Flag of the United Kingdom: UK £0.79/1.29 or 1.89/NA
Flag of Europe: EU €0.99/2.49/NA [1]
Flag of Australia: AU $1.69/3.39/NA
Flag of Japan: JP ¥150+/400/NA
Flag of New Zealand: NZ $1.8/3.6/NA
Flag of Sweden: SEK 9 kr/NA/NA
Flag of Norway: NOK 8 kr/NA/NA
Flag of Switzerland: CHF 1.50/NA/NA
Platforms: Mac OS X (not Classic Mac OS); Windows: 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista; Apple TV; iPod touch; iPhone; Motorola: ROKR E1, SLVR L7, RAZR V3i
Format: Protected AAC (.m4p) @ 128 kbit/s, audiobooks 32 kbit/s, Protected MPEG-4 Video (.m4v).
From May 2007 also Unprotected AAC (.m4a) @ 256 kbit/s (only selected content on "iTunes Plus")
Restrictions: Music - streaming to five computers every 24 hours, unlimited CDs (seven with an unchanged playlist), unlimited iPods and iPhones.
Catalogue: More than 6 million songs worldwide, 65,000+ podcasts (USA), 10,000+ music videos (USA),
350+ TV shows (USA), 20,000+ audiobooks (USA), 14 iPod games (USA), 500+ movies (USA)
Preview: 30 seconds (Music, TV, & Video) / 90 seconds (Audiobooks) / 30+ seconds (Movies)
Streaming: Previews only
Protocol: iTunes Music Store Protocol (itms://)
Availability: See article
Features: Allowance, “Just For You”, Celebrity Playlists, gift certificates and gift cards, iMix, billboard charts, advanced search
Customer support: Web only; See article
Website: www.apple.com/itunes

The iTunes Store is an online business run by Apple Inc. which sells media files that are accessed through the iTunes application. The iTunes Store is the number one music vendor in the U.S.[2]

Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, it proved the viability of online music sales. As of the end of the second week of January, 2008, the store has sold 4 billion songs[3], accounting for more than 70% of worldwide online digital music sales.[4]Some downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by FairPlay, Apple's version of digital rights management.

Contents

[edit] Features and restrictions

[edit] Pricing

Songs were originally sold for a single price in all countries but Japan. Music in the store is in the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format, which is the MPEG-4-specified successor to MP3. Songs with DRM are encoded at 128 kilobits per second (kb/s). Songs from EMI and many indie labels are available without DRM and encoded at the higher-quality rate of 256 kb/s (These are known as "iTunes Plus" songs). Songs are priced at US$0.99 in the United States, C$0.99 in Canada, NZ$1.79 in New Zealand, AU$1.69 in Australia, €0.99 in the eurozone (except Slovenia, Cyprus, and Malta) and £0.79 in the United Kingdom. In Norway, songs cost 8.00 NOK per song, in Sweden 9.00 SEK and in Switzerland the price is 1.50 CHF. All European prices are in general comparable and oscillate around €0.99. In Japan, songs sell for JPY 150 or JPY 200. Previews, thirty seconds in length, are available free, prior to buying a song. Most albums cost US$9.99 in the U.S., and volume discounts of up to 20% are available for purchases of more than 25,000 songs.[5]

Television episodes are available for US$2 each and in the UK for £1.89 each, as are short films. Music videos in the US are $1.99 and in the UK for £1.29 each. Feature-length movies sell for US$9.99 for older Movies, US$12.99 for day of release movies, and US$14.99 for movies after release date. TV shows are available in the United States with the United Kingdom only being able to buy 51 shows over 8 Channels/Studios as of February 9th 2008.

Games (compatible with 5th generation iPod, iPod classic models and the 3rd generation iPod nano) range from US$0.99 - US$4.99. Podcasts are free.

At the Macworld 2008 keynote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced iTunes movie rentals. Ordinary library titles are US$2.99, and new releases are $3.99. HD versions cost US$1 more. Movies are available for rent in the iTunes Store 30 days after they have been released on DVD, and remain "new releases" for 6 months. This option is currently only available in the US.

There is also a weekly promotion in which one to three songs are available to download for free to logged-in users. Free downloads are available on Tuesdays, and remain free until the following Tuesday. Some artists choose to have select songs available for no charge. This is not available at all iTunes Stores worldwide. Some iTunes television programs have begun the same technique to encourage brand loyalty; although those stay longer. In fact, the iTunes Store used to have a link to "Free TV" on its home page and the TV Shows section's home page which links to a complete listing of free TV shows, however it has disappeared (the page has remained online). Apple still sells free TV episodes; some channels have their own pages of "free Season Premieres."

[edit] Availability

To buy files through the store, a user must pay with an iTunes gift card or a credit card with a billing address in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, or the United States. Apple also offers other payment methods (like Paypal) which differ from country to country. Residents in other countries can only buy a gift card from a merchant or download free podcasts and previews. If someone buys a gift card, an address in the country of the gift card must also be provided.

[edit] iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store icon
The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store icon

The release of the iPod touch brought the introduction of the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. This version of the iTunes Store allows owners of Wi-Fi capable iPod touchs and iPhones to purchase music directly on the portable music device.[6]

[edit] Customer support

Apple provides no customer support for the iTunes Store over the phone, though Timothy Noah of Slate has found a customer service line.[7] All customer service inquiries are handled online.[8]

[edit] Background

Debuting on April 28, 2003, the iTunes Music Store was the first online music store to gain widespread media attention. Apple's store allows the user to purchase songs and transfer them easily to the iPod through iTunes. The iPod is the only digital music player (besides some Motorola cell phones and the iPhone) that is intended to work with the iTunes Store, although some other digital music players will work with iTunes. The iTunes Music Store launched initially with about 200,000 files available for download.

On 5 September 2007, Apple introduced the iPod touch which included the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. An update for the iPhone which included the Wi-Fi Music Store was released on 28 September 2007.

[edit] Catalog content

[edit] Music

The store began after Apple signed deals with the five major record labels at the time, EMI, Universal, Warner, Sony Music Entertainment, and BMG (the last two would later merge to form Sony BMG). Music from more than 2000 independent labels was added later, the first from Moby on July 29, 2003.

The store has more than 6,000,000 songs,[9] including exclusive tracks from numerous popular artists. Not all artists are available on iTunes, including some popular ones such as The Beatles,Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Garth Brooks, and AC/DC as well as a lack of complete or entire albums from some artists.

New songs are added to the iTunes catalog every day, while the iTunes Store is updated each Tuesday. Apple also releases a 'Single of the Week' and usually a 'Discovery Download' on Tuesdays, which are available for free for one week. Perhaps the most notable case of music being removed is of Frank Zappa; a significant portion of his music was added to the iTunes store in August 2005 and then in August 2006 removed.[10]

Downloaded songs come with song information (name, artist, album) already filled out, though iTunes provides a free service by Gracenote to do this for songs not purchased from the store, although they must be imported with iTunes. Songs that have an entry in the iTunes Store also come with album artwork. As of the release of iTunes 7, the artwork can be obtained for songs not purchased from the store for free if the user has an iTunes Store account. Purchased songs do not come with lyrics already typed in to the application's window for them; nor does iTunes provide a service for acquiring the missing lyrics. However, they can easily be obtained using a third-party Web site or Dashboard widget.

[edit] "Album Only"

Some songs are available from the store by "Album Only," meaning the song can only be acquired through the purchase of the entire album, whereas most songs can be downloaded separately from the album they belong to. Soundtracks often have many "Album Only" tracks. Movie soundtracks normally include songs owned by many different labels, making licensing more complex. For example the Forrest_Gump_(soundtrack) included songs from Peacock Records, Argo Records, and Capitol Records among many others.

[edit] Sub-divisions

When entering the U.S. music store, there are multiple sub-divided stores that one can go into. These stores are either found under ‘More In Music,’ ‘Genres,’ ‘Pre-Orders,’ ‘Celebrity Playlists’ and ‘Free Downloads.’ Within ‘More In Music,’ one can enter various random stores such as Starbucks Entertainment and iTunes Essentials. iTunes Essentials contains groupings of music based upon the artist of the music (Artist Essentials), the genre or history of the music (Genres and History), or any other similarities (My Groove). Each grouping of music is essentially a pre-made playlist. The songs in the playlist are all listed in order of their importance, starting with the first song that the artist is most known for. These playlists usually contain either 45 or 75 songs equally distributed in three sections: The Basics (the biggest, best, and most important songs), Next Steps (usually composed of popular songs just beyond the hits) and Deep Cuts (under-appreciated songs). Occasionally, specific Artist Essentials do not have a Deep Cuts section. This usually depends on how many releases the artist has completed over the years. Within ‘Genres,’ one can enter music stores that only have one genre such as blues or reggae. There are a total of 20 genres in the U.S. music store. ‘Pre-Orders’ lists albums that one can pre-order before the album is released. ‘Celebrity Playlists’ contains lists of songs chosen and described by celebrities. ‘Free Downloads’ are songs that subscribed iTunes Store users can obtain for free.

On November 1, 2006, Apple created a new category for Latino or Hispanic content, “iTunes Latino”. Telemundo and Mun2 made some of their popular programs available for purchase, becoming the first Hispanic television content in the store. It offers music, music videos, audiobooks, podcasts and television shows in Spanish in a single concentrated area. The brief descriptions given to the content is in Spanish as well as several sub-categories. Gibraltarian Flamenco Metal band Breed 77, released an exclusive album called Un Encuentro to coincide with the launch of “iTunes Latino”. It features 11 songs, all from previous albums, but all sung in Spanish.

[edit] Audiobooks

The iTunes Store also includes over 20,000 audiobooks, encoded at 32 kilobits per second. Ninety second previews are offered for every book. These books are provided by Audible.com. This is the same format available if the user signs up directly with Audible.com and chose the "iPod" format. The main difference is that it is unnecessary to sign up for a subscription to get audiobooks as is the case with Audible. A small discount is provided through buying audiobooks through the iTunes Store, but on a selective basis by Apple in comparison to an "always on member discount" if one has an Audible subscription.

[edit] Video

In October 2005, Apple announced the latest iPod would be capable of playing video files, which would be sold online through the iTunes Store in the U.S.[11] These videos included 2000 music videos and episodes of popular television programs. Apple made a deal with Disney to be the first supplier of TV shows, the first shows available included episodes of Lost and Desperate Housewives with each episode becoming available the day after it originally aired on broadcast TV. Several short animated films by Pixar are also available.

The selling of videos on iTunes sparked considerable debate as to whether there was a paying audience for programming available for free on TV. As MP3 Newswire pointed out, users are not so much paying for the TV programs themselves. Instead they are really paying for a service that offers the convenience of someone else digitizing free broadcast episodes for them for their portable device, each episode in commercial-free form, and a convenient place to select and download individual shows. Through an updated version of QuickTime Pro, users can create their own videos for the iPod, including digitized versions of programs recorded on their VCR if they wish to take the time and effort to save the cost.

In July 2006, the Aquaman pilot became available for download. It was the first show offered on iTunes that has never aired on a network.[12]

On September 12, 2006, Apple renamed iTunes Music Store to iTunes Store as they began selling feature-length movies through the store. The service debuted with a catalog of 75 films from four Disney-owned studios: Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Miramax and Touchstone Pictures.[13]

On the same date, Apple increased the resolution of videos and movies sold on the iTunes Store from 320x240 (QVGA) to 640x480 (VGA).[14]

On November 2006, a series of Pixar short films were added to the Australian Store at a price of $3.39 AU.

Later in December 2006, Apple started releasing full-length film trailers for free in iPod format 320x240, 640x480 Apple format, and HD quality videos.

On January 9, 2007, Apple announced during the Macworld keynote that Paramount Pictures' catalog would be added to the iTunes Store, bringing the total amount of movies up to 250+. The service is currently U.S. only.

On February 12, 2007, a press release announced the addition of movies from Lionsgate to the iTunes store, bringing the total number of movies available to over 400.[15]

On April 11, 2007, Apple announced that MGM Studios has made select titles available on the iTunes store, bringing total movie offerings through iTunes to over 500.[16] MGM stated that it has the largest modern movie library in the world. Its catalog includes such classics as RoboCop, West Side Story, and Mad Max.

On June 11, 2007, it was discovered that Apple was in talks with several Hollywood studios to make their new movies available as movie rentals on iTunes. Titles would be rented for US$2.99 and would expire after a set amount of days.[17]

On August 29, 2007, a selection of TV shows became available in the UK online store at a price of £1.89 per episode, including Lost, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.[18]

On December 16, 2007, a selection of TV shows were added to the iTunes store in Canada at a price of $1.99 per episode.

At the 2008 Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the iTunes Store will offer over 1,000 movies for rental by the end of February. The iTunes movie catalog will include content from 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Renting a standard definition catalog title will cost $2.99, while new releases will cost $3.99. High definition titles will cost $1 more respectively. [19] Apple hasn't announced movies or TV episodes yet but they are expected to be available by Q2/Q3 2008.

April 2nd Apple Announced that TV episodes would be available in Germany starting at 35 titles including LOST, Desperate Housewives and many more.

[edit] iPod games

Main article: iPod games

On 12 September 2006, the iTunes Store began to offer additional games for purchase with the launch of iTunes 7, compatible with the iPod classic or iPod nano with video playback. Launch titles included: Bejeweled, Cubis, Mini Golf, Mahjong, Pac-Man, Tetris, Texas Hold 'Em, Vortex, and Zuma. The games cannot be played in iTunes. On 19 December 2006, iTunes released two more games for purchase: Sudoku and Royal Solitaire. On 27 February 2007 iTunes released Ms. Pac-Man. On 24 April 2007, Apple Inc also released iQuiz at a purchasing price of US$0.99 (UK£0.79). Additional 'Trivia Packs' can be added to iQuiz through the use of the iQuiz Maker software. On 22 May 2007, iTunes released a version of the Lost video game, based on the TV series of that name. Also, on 17 July 2007 The Sims Bowling was added. On July 29, EA released The Sims Pool, before Sony BMG's first game "Musika" on August 7, 2007. A game called Phase which is similar to Guitar Hero and made by Harmonix was added to the store on September 13, 2007. The game allows users to use their own songs in the game.

[edit] Market share and milestones

 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)

Since its launch, the iTunes Store has crossed many milestones. In the first 18 hours, the store sold about 275,000 tracks and more than 1,000,000 in its first 5 days. When released for Windows in October 2003, iTunes was downloaded more than 1,000,000 times in the first 3 days, selling more than 1,000,000 songs in that period. On December 15, 2003 Apple announced that it had crossed 25 million songs sold.

In January 2004 at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Steve Jobs announced (Sellers, 2004) that an unnamed person had purchased $29,500 worth of music. On March 15, 2004, Apple announced that iTunes Music Store customers had purchased and downloaded 50 million songs from the iTunes Music Store. They also reported that customers were purchasing 2.5 million songs a week which translates to a projected annual run rate of 130 million songs a year. The 50 millionth song was "The Path of Thorns" by Sarah McLachlan.[20]

On April 28, 2004, the iTunes Music Store marked its first anniversary with 70 million songs sold, clear dominance in the paid online music market and a slight profit.[21] The store also offers hundreds of movie trailers and music videos, in an attempt to boost soundtrack sales. In the conference, Steve Jobs reiterated that a subscription service is still not in the interest of customers and reported that only 5 million of the 100 million songs offered in the Pepsi giveaway campaign were redeemed, which he blamed on technical problems in Pepsi distribution. According to an Apple Press Release released on August 10, 2004, the iTunes Music Store is the first store to have a catalog of more than one million songs.[22] Also, the iTunes Music Store at that point maintained an over 70% market share of legal music downloads.

On September 1, 2004 the iTunes Music Store had surpassed 125 million songs sold.[23] On October 14, 2004 the iTunes Music Store had surpassed 150 million songs sold.[24] On December 16, 2004 the iTunes Music Store had surpassed 200 million songs sold. Ryan Alekman of Belchertown, Massachusetts, USA, bought the 200 millionth song, which was one of the tracks on U2's digital box set The Complete U2.[25] On January 24, 2005 the iTunes Music Store sold a quarter of a billion songs worldwide.[26]

On March 2, 2005, the iTunes Music Store had surpassed 300 million songs sold.[27] On May 10, 2005 Apple announced that it had sold over 400 million songs.[28] On July 5, 2005 Apple announced a promotion counting down to half a billion songs sold.[29] On July 18, 2005 Apple announced that it had sold 500 million songs. Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana, USA, bought the 500 millionth song, "Mississippi Girl" by Faith Hill.[30]

On October 31, 2005 Apple announced that iTunes Music Store customers had purchased and downloaded 1 million videos since the launch of video support on October 12, 2005.[31] On December 6, 2005 Apple announced that iTunes Music Store customers had purchased and downloaded over 3 million videos.[32] On January 10, 2006 Apple announced that the iTunes Music Store had sold 850 million songs and 8 million videos.[33]

On February 23, 2006 Apple announced that the iTunes Music Store had sold 1 billion songs and 15 million videos. The billionth song was “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay, purchased by Alex Ostrovsky of West Bloomfield, Michigan.[34] On September 12, 2006 Steve Jobs announced in his "It's Showtime" keynote that Apple had 88% of the legal U.S. music download market, 1.5 billion songs downloaded, and 45 million videos sold. On January 10, 2007 Apple announced that the iTunes Store had sold more than 2 billion songs, 50 million television episodes, and over 1.3 million feature-length films.[35]

On April 9, 2007 Apple announced that the iTunes Store had sold more than 2.5 billion songs.[36] On April 11, 2007 Apple announced that the iTunes Store had sold more than two million movies, making it the world’s most popular online movie store.[16]

On July 31, 2007 Apple announced that the iTunes Store had sold more than 3 billion songs.[37]

On January 15, 2008 Apple announced that the iTunes Store had sold more than 4 billion songs.

On February 26, 2008 Apple announced that iTunes Store surpassed Best Buy to become the 2nd biggest music seller behind Wal-Mart.

On April 3, 2008 it was announced that the iTunes store had surpassed Wal-Mart to become the biggest music retailer in the US.[2]

[edit] Internationalization

Originally only Mac OS X users who had credit cards with a U.S. billing address could buy songs with the service, but Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, announced plans to support both Windows and non-American users. The Windows version of iTunes and support for the Windows platform from the iTunes Music Store were announced on October 16, 2003, with immediate availability. Beginning in 2004, the service has become available in a number of countries outside the U.S.:

  • On 15 June 2004, the iTunes Music Store was launched in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Songs were priced at €0.99 for France and Germany, and UK£0.79 for the United Kingdom. According to an Apple Press Release, the European iTunes Music Stores sold a combined total of 800,000 songs in one week, with 450,000 of those songs sold in the UK.[38]
  • On 26 October 2004 nine countries were added to the iTunes Music Store in a large EU store expansion: Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. This extended availability to all countries that were then in the Eurozone except for the Republic of Ireland, where the iTMS became available on 6 January 2005. These countries also pay €0.99 for songs, and formerly shared catalogues. The Italian and Portuguese store have been localized (language-wise). Some of these stores also currently lack music videos (e.g. Portugal). The French, German, American, and British stores are localized for their respective countries and have different catalogs. On 3 December 2004 the British Office of Fair Trading referred the iTunes Music Store to the European Commission because it prevents consumers in one EU country from buying music from stores in other EU countries, in violation of EU free-trade legislation; the immediate cause of the referral was because the €0.99 price charged in the eurozone equates to UK£0.68 in sterling, rather than the UK£0.79 actually charged there. The iTunes Store is not yet available in any of the countries that joined the Eurozone after the original launch of the store—Slovenia (2007), Cyprus (2008) or Malta (2008).
  • The iTunes Music Store was launched in Canada on December 3, 2004; Canadian customers pay CAN$0.99 per song.
  • On 10 May 2005, the iTunes Music Store "went live" for Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Denmark, after about two weeks of speculation about these countries (and Australia) receiving the store.
  • Apple officially launched the iTunes Music Store in Japan on 4 August 2005, with 1 million songs available; 90% of songs are priced at JP¥150.[39] In the next four days the store had sold one million songs – the pace faster than that of the U.S. store.[40] In addition to a long delay, Apple failed to have one set price for singles. Pundits speculated that this may have indicated the introduction of new price structure to the rest of the stores in future, in favor of record labels who would like to see higher prices for new songs. Such a structure has yet to materialize.
  • The iTunes Music Store was launched in Australia on 25 October 2005. Individual songs are priced at AU$1.69 per track, album prices vary but are generally priced at AU$16.99. The recent release of video-capable iPods also saw the store launch with music videos and short films by Pixar available for AU$3.39 each, although TV episodes are not currently available. Stores in the Coles Group retail chain sell iTunes Music Cards in denominations of AU$20, AU$30, AU$50, AU$70, and AU$100. iTunes Gift Cards (as they are now known) are now also available in many more stores such as JB Hi-Fi, David Jones, and the Woolworths chain of stores. Access was inadvertently given to some people in New Zealand, too.[41] Failed negotiations with the Sony BMG label (which had delayed the launch of the Australian iTMS significantly) meant that none of that label's artists were available at the time of launch. Sony music was later added starting on January 17, 2006.
  • On November 1, 2006, the store started offering a range of Latino content including television shows and music.[42]
  • The iTunes Store (along with a local Apple Online Store) was officially launched in New Zealand on December 6, 2006, although New Zealand users had briefly been able to buy from the Australian store when it first opened until that loophole was closed. Individual songs are priced at NZ$1.8, music videos at NZ$3.6 and most albums at NZ$18.[43]
  • Many users from central and south Europe are still waiting for their version of iTunes.
  • The newly developed iTunes Movie Rentals will be released outside the U.S. within a year.

Note that only the Austrian, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and parts of the Japanese store have been translated into their respective official or de facto languages, the remainder of the stores are in English but the content is localized to the respective country. Also, iTunes has a very western-centric view as music in all non-west European languages are classified under the genre "World." For example, songs from African musicians and songs from Indian musicians are all classified as World.

[edit] File format

Protected AAC file.
Protected MP4 file.

Most songs are encoded using FairPlay-encrypted 128 kbit/s AAC streams in an mp4 wrapper, using the .m4p extension. AAC achieves better sound quality than the MP3 format when compared at the same bitrate.

While licenses to the AAC compression and the mp4 file format are readily available, Apple had not agreed to license its proprietary FairPlay encryption scheme to other hardware manufacturers until recently, so only Apple's iPod was able to play AAC files encrypted with Apple's FairPlay technology, apart from computers with iTunes or QuickTime installed. On September 7, 2005 Motorola and Apple announced the Motorola ROKR E1, which comes with built in iTunes software and can also play songs from the iTunes Store. About two months later the second cell phone with iTunes, the Motorola RAZR V3i, was announced. The Motorola SLVR L7, released in early 2006, became the second actual phone available on the commercial market to support songs encoded by iTunes or purchased on the iTunes Store.

Currently the digital booklets included with some albums are in PDF. With the present iPod software, these files are not readable on iPods.

As of 29 May 2007 tracks on the EMI label have been made available in a DRM-less format called iTunes Plus. These files are unprotected and are encoded in the AAC format at 256 kilobits per second, twice the bitrate of standard tracks bought through the service.

[edit] Digital rights management

A white fifth-generation iPod with earphones. The only handheld devices licensed to play music from the iTunes Store are iPods, the iPhone, and selected Motorola mobile phones, such as the ROKR.
A white fifth-generation iPod with earphones. The only handheld devices licensed to play music from the iTunes Store are iPods, the iPhone, and selected Motorola mobile phones, such as the ROKR.

Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) is integrated into iTunes, which manages songs purchased from iTunes Store. iTunes relies on FairPlay to implement three main restrictions:

  • Users can make a maximum of seven CD copies of any particular playlist containing songs purchased from the iTunes Store.
  • Users can access their purchased songs on a maximum of five computers.
  • Songs can only be played on a computer with iTunes or an iPod; other mp3 devices do not support FairPlay encoded tracks.

There are no restrictions on number of iPods to which a purchased song can be transferred nor the number of times any individual song can be burned to CD.

When Apple initially introduced FairPlay, songs purchased through iTunes had limits of three simultaneous machines and ten CD copies of a playlist. The adjustment to the current limits was implemented with the introduction of iTunes 4.5 in April of 2004, presumably as the result of re-negotiations Apple had with major labels.

Apple's DRM technology is not unbreakable. Various programs been written to remove the FairPlay wrapper and allow the AAC files to be used without technological restriction. More simply, a user can convert protected files to unprotected MP3 format by burning them to an audio CD, then ripping them back to iTunes. (Some audio quality is lost in this transcoding from one lossy format to another.) An alternative, though equally lossy, way of transcoding the files is to record the "Wave Out Mix" using an audio recording program (such as Audacity or Audio Hijack Pro) while playing the song on iTunes — and then encoding it to a format of the user's choice.

Competitors accuse Apple of using iPod, the iTunes Store, and "FairPlay" to establish a vertical monopoly and a lock-in for iPod users to use the iTunes Store exclusively (and vice versa). This "lock" has two aspects:

  • Apple has maintained tight control of its FairPlay encryption. Other online music stores cannot sell music files encoded with FairPlay, and competing devices from companies such as Creative Labs and iriver cannot play such files. This means that consumers who want to listen to songs downloaded from the iTunes Store must either have an iPod or convert the files to an open format.
  • The iPod does not play files encoded in the Microsoft's WMA format or RealNetwork's Helix-protected format used by other online music stores. iPod owners who want to play music from other stores must circumvent the files' DRM.

In July 2004, RealNetworks debuted an application named Harmony, which converted files purchased from RealNetworks' RealRhapsody service into a FairPlay-compatible format that an iPod could play. In response, Apple accused RealNetworks of "adopting the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod."[44] and released a firmware upgrade that rendered iPods incapable of playing such files. On January 3, 2005, an iTunes online music store customer sued Apple, alleging the company broke U.S. antitrust laws by freezing out competitors.[45]

In 2006, a controversy erupted about a French draft law aimed at reinforcing the protection of works of art against "piracy", or illegal copying; some clauses of the law could possibly be used to request Apple to provide information about its FairPlay system to manufacturers of competing players. Apple and associated lobbying groups protested the draft law, going as far as to suggest that it condoned "state-sponsored piracy." Some U.S. commentators claimed that the law was a protectionistic measure against the iPod.

[edit] Movement against the use of DRM

On February 6, 2007, Steve Jobs called on the Big Four record labels to allow their music to be sold DRM-free.[46] On April 2, 2007, Apple and the record label EMI announced that the iTunes Store would begin offering, as an additional purchasing option, tracks from EMI's catalog encoded as 256 kbit/s AAC without FairPlay or any other DRM.

On May 29, 2007, Apple released version 7.2 of its iTunes software, allowing users to purchase DRM-free music and music videos from participating labels. These new files, available through the iTunes Store, have been called iTunes Plus music by Apple.

In October 2007, iTunes Plus ceased to be a purchasing option. It instead became mandatory for all iTunes Plus licensed content. In addition, the price of iTunes Plus reverted to the DRM price.

Almost immediately, reports began circulating that DRM-free songs and music videos sold by the iTunes Store contained identifying information about the customer, embedded as ID3 tags of the purchasing account's full name and e-mail address (as they had been ever since the iTunes Store first opened). Some people fear this data could be used to identify the owner of the tracks if they turn up on file-sharing sites.[47] In the past, the RIAA has sued people for file sharing music.[48] The identifying information can be removed by burning to disc and then ripping back into iTunes (either as AAC or MP3)—though this degrades the sound quality of the original—, or simply by using any MPEG-4 tag editor.[49]

[edit] Promotions

On Super Bowl Sunday, February 1, 2004, Apple launched a promotion with Pepsi in which they gave away 100 million songs, through tokens on selected soft drink bottle caps. Unfortunately for Apple, Pepsi failed to properly distribute the bottles to major metropolitan areas until only weeks before the promotion ended, despite a one-month extension of the deadline by Apple. The promotion was repeated beginning January 31, 2005, with 200 million songs available, and an iPod mini given away every hour.

On July 1, 2004, Apple announced that, starting with the sale of the 95 millionth song, an iPod would be given away to the buyer of each 100 thousandth song, for a total of 50 iPods. The buyer of the 100 millionth song would receive a PowerBook, iPod, and US$10,000 gift certificate to the iTunes Music Store.

Ten days later, on July 11, Apple announced that 100 million songs had been sold through the iTunes Music Store. The 100 millionth song was titled "Somersault (Dangermouse Remix)" by Zero 7, purchased by Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas. He then received a phone call from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who offered his congratulations, as well as a 40 GB 3rd Generation iPod laser-engraved with a message of thanks.

Inspired by Pepsi's marketing success with iTunes giveaways, Coca-Cola partnered with 7-Eleven to give away a free iTunes song with every 32 oz. Slurpee frozen beverage until July 31, 2005. Songs could be redeemed until August 31, 2005 by entering a code printed on the Slurpee cup into the iTunes Music Store application. Coca-Cola did this in spite of having its own music store, myCokeMusic.com, that competed with the iTunes Music Store in Europe. myCokeMusic.com ceased business on July 31, 2006.[50]

On July 5, 2005 Apple announced that they were counting down to half a billion songs. The buyer of every 100 thousandth song up to 500 million would receive an iPod mini and a 50-song gift card. The grand prize for the person who downloads the 500 millionth song was 10 iPods of their choice, a 10,000-song gift card, 10 50-song gift cards or 4 tickets to the Coldplay world tour. Twelve days later, on July 17, Apple announced that 500 million songs had been sold through the iTunes Music Store. The 500 millionth song, purchased by Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana, was "Mississippi Girl" by Faith Hill.

On July 28, 2005, Apple and The Gap announced a promotion to award iTunes music downloads to Gap customers who tried on a pair of Gap jeans.[51] From August 8 to August 31, 2005, each customer who tried on any pair of Gap jeans could receive a free download for a song of their choice from the iTunes Music Store.

On February 7, 2006, Apple announced that they were counting down to the billionth song download and began a promotion similar to the previous 100 million and 500 million countdown. Whoever downloaded the billionth song would receive a 20 inch iMac, ten 60 GB iPods, and a US$10,000 iTunes Music Card. The billionth song was purchased on February 23, 2006 by Alex Ostrovsky of West Bloomfield, Michigan. The purchased song was "Speed of Sound" as part of Coldplay's X&Y album.

On July 25, 2006, Facebook and iTunes began offering a promotion where members of the Apple Students group would receive a free 25 song sampler each week until September 30 in various music genres. The idea behind the promotion was to get students more familiar and enthusiastic with each service as Autumn classes approached.[52] However in order to prevent abuse of the promotion, the weekly code that Facebook provided stopped working after it was redeemed one million times. In addition, the promotion caused discontent among international students, as the code was only valid in the U.S. music store.

[edit] Other platforms

Although iTunes is only supported on Mac OS X and Windows operating systems and devices, users of other platforms have been able to buy music from the iTunes Store by a variety of methods. iTunes is known to run passably well using the Wine compatibility layer, but this method only works with x86 PCs.[53] There have been alternative programs developed to access the iTunes Store, including SharpMusique.

[edit] Legal disputes

[edit] Apple Records

For three years, The Beatles' record company Apple Records was in a legal dispute, Apple Corps v. Apple Computer, with Apple Computer over the name "Apple." On May 8, 2006, a ruling was declared in favor of Apple Computer, but Apple Records said it would appeal the ruling. Despite this, plans were announced by Neil Aspinall in April 2006 to completely remaster and release the entire Beatles catalog on an unspecified online music service, as well as release some previously unheard work by the band. No date has been set as of yet.[54] It has also been reported that the Beatles' music catalog might initially be appearing on iTunes only, as Apple is reported to be negotiating with Britain's EMI group over an online distribution deal that might be exclusive for a limited time.[55] During his January 9, 2007 Macworld Keynote address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs used the band's song "Lovely Rita" to introduce the music-playing capabilities of the company's new iPhone. This was regarded by industry observers as further evidence that the Beatles catalog would be introduced to the iTunes Music Store catalog in the near future.[56] On February 5, 2007, Apple Corps and Apple Inc. announced they had reached a settlement in their legal dispute.[57] In a related development, Apple announced on August 14, 2007 that the entire solo catalog of John Lennon would be available on iTunes.[58] The solo catalogs of the other three Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, are also available on iTunes. While The Beatles' official catalog is not yet available, their songs made by different artists (Studio 99, The Beat-less, etc.) are available.

[edit] The Consumer Council of Norway EULA challenge

On June 6, 2006, The Consumer Ombudsmen in Norway, Sweden and Denmark launched a common open letter to Apple regarding the EULA of iTunes through the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon.[59] The iTunes case is based upon an official complaint filed by The Consumer Council of Norway on January 25, 2006.

The main allegations were that:

  • The EULA is unbalanced to disfavor the customer. Scandinavian law requires any written agreement to favor both parties. The weak party also enjoys protection from exploitation according to Norwegian consumer laws.
  • The iTunes Store's use of Digital Rights Management limits the number of devices purchased songs can be played on.
  • iTunes' contract entitles the company to at any time change the terms of the contract without notice, including the selection of players or software that must be used for iTunes files, and also the number of times a customer can change or copy already purchased files. (This is standard practice in many EULAs.)
  • The EULA is both vague and hard to understand for the customers.
  • The EULA states that the legal relationship between the company and customers is regulated by English contract law. It is unreasonable to expect Norwegian consumers to have comprehensive knowledge of English law. Products marketed to Norwegian consumers in Norway are subject to Norwegian law — a right that cannot be waived by a clause in a company's standard customer contract.
  • The EULA removes iTunes' responsibility regarding damage to the consumers computer due to software errors even though responsibility cannot be waived in Scandinavian Law. (Again, this is standard practice in many EULAs.)

Apple responded July 31, 2006.[60]

On January 22, 2007, German and French consumer groups joined forces with Norway and Finland.[61][62] Their goal is to create a united European front against iTunes (Germany and France has each had their own negotiation process with iTunes). According to the press statement iTunes is in favor of this. The key points in the negotiations were:

  • Interoperability - the consumer should have the right and ability to play his music on any device of his own choice.
  • Change of conditions - iTunes must revoke their right to change the terms and conditions (EULA) at any time without the consent of the consumer.
  • Liability - iTunes should change its clause limiting its liability to recover consumer damages if they are caused by content sold by iTunes.
  • Applicable Law - Consumers entering into a contract with iTunes should be able to rely on the consumer protection rules according to the law of the country in which they live.

[edit] Content disputes

[edit] Universal Music Group

On July 1, 2007, it was reported[63] that Universal (currently the world's biggest music corporation) would not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes.

Instead, Universal said that it would market music to Apple at will, allowing it to remove its songs from the iTunes service on short notice if the two sides did not agree on pricing or other terms.

On August 9, 2007, UMG announced a plan to sell some songs in MP3 format, without Digital Rights Management, through a variety of online services such as Amazon MP3 and the newly-created gBox. While these tracks continue to be available through the iTunes Store, Universal chose to license these songs in DRM-free formats only through other services.[64]

[edit] NBC Universal TV series

On August 31, 2007, Apple announced that programs on NBC's 2007-08 television schedule would not be available on iTunes.[65] NBC had informed Apple the previous day that it would not be renewing its contract.[66] It was later clarified that this change only applied to series produced by NBC Universal-owned Universal Media Studios, including Universal-produced shows on other networks such as House and Monk. NBC programs produced by other studios, such as Chuck (Warner Bros.) and Journeyman (20th Century Fox), remain available on iTunes.[67]

Apple has publicly asserted that NBC would only renew their contract if Apple agreed to a price increase of $4.99 per episode, which they did not. NBC disputes that claim, claiming that Apple balked at NBC's request to package shows together and make wholesale pricing more flexible.[68] NBC claims that they never asked to double the wholesale price and insisted that their shows would be sold by the iTunes Store through early December.[69] As of September 17, 2007, other networks who sell their shows via iTunes have not followed suit, as some predicted would happen.[citation needed] On December 1, 2007 NBC shows were pulled from ITunes.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ The iTunes Store is available in all of the eurozone excluding Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta)
  2. ^ a b iTunes Store Top Music Retailer in the USA. Apple, Inc. (2008-04-03).
  3. ^ Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, at Macworld 2008 Keynote.
  4. ^ Digital developments could be tipping point for MP3.
  5. ^ iTunes Volume Program - Frequently Asked Questions. Apple Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-05-29.
  6. ^ iPod Touch Features. apple.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
  7. ^ Timothy Noah (2006-12-06). Calling iTunes, Part 3. Slate.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
  8. ^ iTunes Store Support: Customer Service. Apple Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  9. ^ Apple - iTunes - iTunes Store. Apple Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  10. ^ Frank Zappa on iTunes. Retrieved January 25, 2008.
  11. ^ Apple Announces iTunes 6 With 2,000 Music Videos, Pixar Short Films & Hit TV Shows. Apple Inc. (2005-10-12). Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
  12. ^ 'Aquaman' Pilot Hits iTunes - Scrapped show among several Warner Bros. offerings - Zap2it
  13. ^ Live from the Steve Jobs Keynote - "It's Showtime" - Engadget
  14. ^ Apple - iTunes - iTunes Overview
  15. ^ Lionsgate Movies Now on iTunes. Apple Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  16. ^ a b Award-Winning MGM Films Now on the iTunes Store. Apple.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  17. ^ Apple pitches iTunes movie rental to studios. marketwatch.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-11.
  18. ^ Apple Announces Hit Television Programming Now Available on the iTunes Store in the UK. Apple.com.
  19. ^ Apple to launch movie rentals from iTunes platform. Google.com.
  20. ^ iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 50 Million Songs. Apple Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  21. ^ Markoff, John (2004-04-29). Apple Sells 70 Million Songs In First Year of ITunes Service. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  22. ^ iTunes Music Store Catalog Tops One Million Songs. Apple Inc. (2004-08-10). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  23. ^ Apple Launches iTunes Affiliate Program. Apple Inc. (2004-09-01). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  24. ^ iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 150 Million Songs. Apple Inc. (2004-10-14). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  25. ^ iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 200 Million Songs. Apple Inc. (2004-12-16). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  26. ^ iTunes Music Store Downloads Top a Quarter Billion Songs. Apple Inc. (2005-01-24). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  27. ^ iTunes Music Store Downloads Surpass 300 Million. Apple Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  28. ^ iTunes Music Store Launches in Denmark, Norway, Sweden & Switzerland. Apple Inc. (2005-05-10). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  29. ^ Apple Kicks Off iTunes Music Store Countdown to Half a Billion Songs. Apple Inc. (2005-07-05). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  30. ^ iTunes Music Store Downloads Top Half a Billion Songs. Apple Inc. (2005-07-18). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  31. ^ iTunes Music Store Sells One Million Videos in Less Than 20 Days. Apple Inc. (2005-10-31). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  32. ^ NBC Universal & Apple Offer New Primetime, Cable, Late-Night & Classic TV Shows on the iTunes Music Store. Apple Inc. (2005-12-06). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  33. ^ Macworld '06: An overview of Apple's big day. ComputerWorld. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  34. ^ iTunes Music Store Downloads Top One Billion Songs. Apple Inc. (2006-02-23). Retrieved on 2006-02-23.
  35. ^ iTunes Store Tops Two Billion Songs. Apple Inc. (2007-01-09). Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
  36. ^ 100 Million iPods Sold. Apple Inc. (2007-04-09). Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  37. ^ iTunes Store Tops Three Billion Songs. Apple Inc. (2007-07-31). Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
  38. ^ iTunes Music Store in Europe Sells 800,000 Songs in First Week. Apple Inc. (2004-06-23). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  39. ^ Apple Launches iTunes Music Store in Japan. Apple Inc. (2005-08-04). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  40. ^ Japan iTunes Music Store Sells One Million Songs in First Four Days. Apple Inc. (2005-07-08). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  41. ^ Apple inadvertently lights up New Zealand iTMS. Infinite Loop. Ars Technica (2005-10-26). Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  42. ^ Apple Announces iTunes Latino on the iTunes Store. Apple Inc. (2006-11-01). Retrieved on 2006-11-01.
  43. ^ Apple Launches iTunes & Online Apple Stores in New Zealand. Apple Inc. (2006-12-06). Retrieved on 2006-12-06.
  44. ^ Bangeman, Eric (2004-07-29). Apple responds to RealNetworks FairPlay hack. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  45. ^ Lawsuit claims Apple violates law with iTunes. News.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.
  46. ^ Thoughts on Music. Apple Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  47. ^ BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Personal data' in iTunes tracks
  48. ^ How To Not Get Sued for File Sharing | Electronic Frontier Foundation
  49. ^ AtomicParsley
  50. ^ Charles Arthur. "Who benefits from the death of mycokemusic.com?", Guardian Unlimited, 2006-06-22. Retrieved on 2007-02-19. 
  51. ^ Jeans and Music - The Perfect Fit at Gap this Fall. Gap Inc. (2005-07-28). Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  52. ^ Cheng, Jacqui. "Infinite Loop: Apple and Facebook partner up for back to school iTunes promo", Ars Technica, 2006-07-25. 
  53. ^ Wine Application DB - Viewing App - iTunes. winehq.org. Retrieved on 2006-05-01.
  54. ^ World Entertainment News Network (2006-11-11). Beatles Catalog To Be Remastered, Offered Online. Starpulse. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
  55. ^ Tim Arungo (2006-11-27). Beatles: only on iPod?. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
  56. ^ Apple teases fans with "Lovely Rita" — but no Beatles on iTunes - International Herald Tribune
  57. ^ Apple Inc. (2007-02-05). "Apple Inc. and The Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd. Enter into New Agreement". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  58. ^ Apple Inc. (2007-08-14). "John Lennon Solo Catalog Debuts on iTunes Store". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  59. ^ iTunes violates Norwegian law, Homepage Forbrukerombudet Norway
  60. ^ Apple response, Simonsen Advokatfirma DA (PDF)
  61. ^ European consumer organisations join forces in legal dispute over iTunes Music Store. cnn.com. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
  62. ^ European drive against iTunes builds support. Homepage Forbrukerombudet Norway
  63. ^ Universal in Dispute With Apple Over iTunes
  64. ^ Aughton, Simon (2007-08-13). gBox - Not Google - has DRM-free Universal deal. PC Pro. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  65. ^ iTunes Store To Stop Selling NBC Television Shows. Apple.com.
  66. ^ "NBC Will Not Renew ITunes Contract", New York Times, 2007-08-31. Retrieved on 2007-09-03. 
  67. ^ New Episodes of Fox’s House Won’t Be on iTunes, Broadcasting & Cable, October 1, 2007
  68. ^ "iTunes drops NBC's new fall shows", Variety, 2007-08-31. Retrieved on 2007-09-03. 
  69. ^ "NBCU’s Response: Never Asked To Double Price; Shows Will Be On iTunes Through Early December", 2007-08-31. 

[edit] External links

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