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iTunes Tops 1 Billion Song Downloads

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

February 23, 2006, 10:17 AM

Apple sold its 1 billionth song from the iTunes Music Store early Thursday morning, reaching what it calls a "massive milestone in digital music history." iTunes hit the 500 million download mark last July, and needed only seven additional months to double those sales.

On the road to 1 billion songs, Apple gave the customers who downloaded every 100,000th song a 4GB iPod nano and $100 iTunes gift card. The user who purchased the 1 billionth song will receive a 20-inch iMac, ten 60GB iPods, and a $10,000 iTunes gift card. The milestone will likely be highlighted at a special Apple event scheduled for next week.

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By Fatima101

edited Jan 26, 2007 - 3:03 PM

How do you buy from iTunes with an iTunes music card?

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

edited Feb 27, 2006 - 8:29 AM

I never realised there were so many idiots in this world.

These people are paying more money for their locked down, poorer sounding, DRM infested music, that it costs to buy the original CD!!

I'm sure it will hit home, whrn they realise what DRM actually is, and what it restricts them doing, until then, their lives will be bliss, and Apple (and co.) will continue to make buckets of money. One day, the DRM backlash will hit mainstream consumers, when they realise they don't acutally own all this music they have bought, they merely licence it...

Score: 0

By digiguy

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 3:49 PM

Must be a troll day today

Score: 0

By xoineg

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 10:40 AM

damn, i missed it.....

Score: 0

By iamtux

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 10:25 AM

Woah...I'm going to start using iTunes more often!

Score: 0

By school1012

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 10:32 AM

And pay more in the long run not thanks. 4 of my friends damaged their machines by just pluging the device into there USB port. 2 other friends saw a performance hit on their machine. 3 other friends want to use napster. All in all, they are all getting rid of their iPods and getting dell, and creative mp3 players.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 9:56 PM

Bahaha! Hope you laughed in your 'friends' faces. Buying a Dell or Creative device if you find the quality of Apple's ones not good enough? That's like buying a 1979 Honda Civic because the quality on your S-Class Mercedes was lacking. :P

Score: 0

By school1012

posted Feb 25, 2006 - 1:26 PM

Even his friend who has an iPod realized how much better the Dell was then his iPod, No software needed to install. Just plug it in and it works

Score: 0

By xoineg

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 10:51 AM

Well iPods maybe a little price, but you pay for looks and the software (like buying a sony tv the brand costs more)

Many people don't know, but Apple wants to keep music downloads at low prices (99 cents per song). Music companies want apple to lose the title of the biggest music store because once this happens they can increase the prices to what ever they feel like. Amazon, dell, Microsoft, Samsung are all kissing the recording industry's butt. I think the current prices are great, and the Music executives just want to increased prices because since they cannot create great music anymore, they need a new way to get more revenue. Just follow the link and read this article. It seems that once apple lose the lead you may be paying the same for a CD or a download. They may even force you to buy the entire album instead of getting a few songs. I’m sticking to the company that gives consumers what they want, not what some greedy executive wants.

http://www.ecommercetime...y-iPod-I-Say-aPod.xhtml

Score: 0

By school1012

edited Feb 23, 2006 - 11:47 AM

Again why would I want to buy from apple. I can get songs at walmart for .88. There a plenty more that are cheaper then apple, and offer songs that apple does not for a cheaper price.
I friend I know that works for apple said they are raising their price to 1.99. If you have an iPod you are now stuck with Apple with no way out. But with a mp3 player I don't have this dictatorship problem.

Score: 0

By spiffyjeff

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 9:58 PM

I'm with you on that, and agree with your "dictatorship" comment :)

I do know a place that sells popular artists for between 4 and 12 cents per song, that's less than $2 per album, no DRM attached, pick your format (m4a, mp3, ogg, flac, mpc, wma...).

I'm not going to list the site here, as I do not want it to become more popular than their resources can handle, just know that it exists, I'm sure you'll be able to find it.

Along with ipod... I use it's competitor, JetAudio's iAUDIO, with Ogg Vorbis :)

Score: 0

By AlanRivaldo

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 1:53 PM

Does your friend at Apple work in Marketing and create pricing strategies? Is he going to make a press release? So when should we all expect to hear from him?

Exactly...

Score: 0

By school1012

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 4:31 PM

Is works in the marketing department with apple, in California. I will not give me a date of when this will change

Score: 0

By xoineg

posted Feb 23, 2006 - 11:59 AM

Well, you are not stuck with one company, I personally have converted all my purchased music to mp3 format. The 1.99 charge couldn’t be more false. Nothing wrong with Wal-Mart, but there is a reason people buy there.

Score: 0

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