Tag: Itunes
Why we will probably never see the Microsoft Zune in the UK
"Our next step is mobile phones, but we haven't talked about a timeline for when that will happen,"
Spotify offline streaming arrives – but only for premium users
Basically the service will cache your music thereby letting you play it back when you are offline, which in some respects makes it a bit of a rival to iTunes. It is useful for when you are using a laptop and don't have access to Wi-Fi, such as when you are travelling.
The Next Big Sound – the website that might just be the future of music charts
It does this by collating plays, views, fans, comments, and other data for almost half a million artists across major online properties, including iTunes, Last.fm, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.
Now you can stream the Beatles – well sort of
So while there's no Strawberry Fields or any other John classics, we7 users can stream Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby and Yesterday and even embed them on other sites too
Beatles on iTunes – are you really that bothered?
I am guessing that anyone who has an iPod probably likes music and viz a viz probably has at least a few of The Beatles albums in their collection on CD. Ok, so iTunes might be good for grabbing a few of the good tracks from the weaker albums like Beatles for Sale, but really is this big event – don't think so.
The true cost of the App Store
As you are well aware faithful readers – because we know you all pay diligent attention to every post we publish – the Apple iTunes App Store is celebrating its first birthday this week.
Whether you love the App Store or, in fact, think that it’s a pile of novelty nonsense as Dan hinted at on Monday, you might be interested to know its true value. How much would it cost to buy every single app available?
Well, American blog Busted Loop has done a bit of research and has revealed that in order to buy all 55,732 apps that were available as of 7th July 2009 you would need to fork out $144,326.06. That’s £89,366.57 in proper money. An average of about £1.60 per app.
The publisher with the most valuable portfolio of apps is Iceberg Reader, who offers best-selling books for its e-reader app. You would need £10,172.62 to buy all of their titles.
What is the value of your app collection? How much have you spent on apps? Let us know the usual way. Me – I’ve spent diddly squat. If someone can recommend me a paid app that I simply can’t be without then please do so. In the meantime, I’ll be browsing the app store like a celebrity backstage at an awards show – grabbing all the freebies that I can.
(via Busted Loop)
The App Store turns one
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This week marks the first anniversary of the Apple iTunes App Store. Funnily enough, Apple has not missed the opportunity to publicise the fact and nor have we, although not necessarily for the same reasons.
There’s no doubting that the App Store has been a huge success and one of the most important factors in the spread of the iPhone but what of the future? Where is the App Store headed next or is it just a one trick pony?
Each day this week we’re looking at a different facet of what it’s achieved, what it stands for and what it means for the rest of the market place. Stay tuned each day and don’t miss our massive Top Apps list coming later in the week. Enjoy and happy downloading.
iTunes' variable pricing coincides with plummeting sales
Initial reports from major labels are suggesting that the switch to variable pricing on iTunes has been a failure. According to ‘numerous sources’ sales decreases have been seen across the board since variable pricing was implemented at Macworld back in January.
But lets remember the statisticians’ mantra – correlation is not causation. Just because sales decreases have been seen alongside the implementation of variable pricing, it doesn’t mean that the latter is causing the former.
Just as likely is the effect of services like Spotify on consumers’ music-listening habits. Although the streaming service is unavailable in the States, where these figures are mostly likely from, there are plenty of other similar applications that consumers are beginning to explore.
As people shift from ownership of music to being happy with just access when they need it, sales will decrease. On the flipside, licensing revenues skyrocket, so the same amount of cash is still floating around for music creators – this isn’t the death of the music industry.
(via Digital Music News)
One Billionth app downloader wins $10,000 iTunes voucher
If you know Connor Mulcahey, age 13, of Weston, CT, I wouldn’t bother buying him any music for his birthday. Ever.
Connor was the downloader of the one billionth application from the Apple App Store this afternoon. The lucky app was Bump, an information exchange app as created by Bump Technologies and it’s taken just nine months of the store being open for the milestone to pass.
Little Connor is now the proud owner of iPod Touch, Time Capsule, MacBook Pro and a $10,000 iTunes gift voucher. Not bad for an impulse buy.
MP3 pricing war erupts between Apple and Amazon
Today, Apple finally implements the variable pricing that has been promised since label renegotiations in January, but the company must be seething a little that Amazon grabbed all the headlines yesterday with an offer featuring chart-topping MP3s for just 30p.
The deal, featuring artists like Lady Gaga, Kings of Leon, Coldplay and La Roux, will tempt yet more consumers over to Amazon’s DRM-free, easy-to-understand platform from the bloated iTunes ecosystem.
But the funny thing here is that we’re not really talking about music fans. We’re talking about mums and dads, people who buy the occasional track but don’t really keep up with much new music or go to gigs.
The kind of people who buy albums in Tesco, not independent record shops. They’re the people that the record labels successfully marketed CDs to in the 90s, but who are now switching to casual gaming and television since music is so omnipresent in everyday life. They simply don’t need to buy it any more.
Amazon’s strategy seems two-fold. Firstly it wants to steal customers off iTunes – that much is clear by the timing of yesterday’s announcement. It also wants to grow the digital download market, though, by marketing MP3s at people buying CDs, books and DVDs from the site.
Ultimately the whole thing is futile, though, as the general public follows the early adopters from ownership of MP3s to access to vast streaming libraries. Already, pretty much everyone who’s interested in listening to music on their computer has tried Spotify.
Personally speaking, my music listening within the last couple of years has already shifted entirely from my MP3 collection to Spotify and Last.fm. The only time I go back is to listen to obscurer stuff that Spotify doesn’t have, and even then I sometimes don’t bother – I just listen to something Spotify *does* have.
At Christmas, I showed Spotify to my Dad. I’ve never seen him so enthralled by a bit of software – he spent a solid four hours playing with it. Whenever I show it to people are resolutely not early adopters they’re amazed by it too.
That’s why I’m so sure that the pricing war doesn’t matter. As soon as the general public properly discovers Spotify, and when Spotify sorts out its mobile clients, then they won’t need Amazon, iTunes or anyone else. They’ll be converts to “access”, and they won’t go back.
