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iTunes Outsells Brick and Mortar Stores

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

November 22, 2005, 11:00 AM

Research firm NPD Group said Monday that Apple's iTunes Music Store broke into the top ten list of music retailers, marking the first time a digital music store has done so.

With the iPod still selling briskly and the holiday season now upon us, it is likely that Apple will increase its share of music sales even further and possibly rise higher in the rankings next quarter.

"The ongoing and growing popularity of Apple's iTunes Music Store now positions the company as a leading music retailer, and continues to legitimize legal digital music retailing," NPD music and movie industry analyst Russ Crupnick said.

According to Apple, the store has sold over 600 million songs, and is selling between 1.5 and 2 million songs per day.

The success of the iPod is also driving the entire market. The RIAA says that digital music made up four percent of all music sales in the first half of 2005.

The iTunes Music Store ranked seventh, beating out Tower Records, Sam Goody and Borders. To figure out how to rank digital music stores in the list, NPD uses an equivalency of 12 tracks per album to create the comparison.

Leading the chart was discount retailer Wal-Mart, followed by Best Buy, Target, Amazon.com, and FYE.

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By roj

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 1:59 PM

There's a sucker born every minute, isn't there.

There are two things you get from CD that iCrap can't give you:

1) Audio Quality.

2) The ability to do whatever you damned well please with what you've paid for.

Score: 0

By NuQ

posted Nov 23, 2005 - 3:45 PM

Not to mention how really interesting it's gping to be when the s**t hit the fan because the hard drives that store all of these downloads on fail - and they will fail. Backup? Yeah, right.

Score: 0

By jessshaun

posted Nov 23, 2005 - 12:56 AM

Yea right...

"2) The ability to do whatever you damned well please with what you've paid for".

Tell that to Sony BMG...

Guess their really IS a sucker born every minute.

I will take a music download over a CD any day anymore.

Score: 0

By rijp

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 6:14 PM

OK, I see this needs another explanation..

First of the quality you hear is WAY beyond your hearing. That's a fact. So I don't care if you download MP3 or NOT you *CANNOT* distinguish between the 2. Period end of subject.

Now then, the software used to CREATE those MP3 is the key. Some are better than others. I have an MP3 player in my car, I have excellent hearing, and I will challenge ANYONE to a hearing test for quality in songs. That being said the type of MP3 files *I* own are superior to that of CD's. I have ALL ripped music. My songs are perfect, and I have a top quality stereo on my car.

I have made wagers with people for ANYONE that can tell me when I have an MP3 song and an original CD quality song in my deck. So far, everyone has been totally wrong, and they cannot tell me which is which, so your audio quality argument is bogus.

I have iTunes, ripped, and several sources of MP3's, even newsgroups, until I find a song I like and it meets my standards for quality, I won't keep it. Maybe on your crappy a** stereo speakers you misjudge quality, because you hear the Songs played on your home stereo, rip them on your CD, and play them on your 2 speaker, 4 watt system on your computer, they are *NOT* the same.

If you have a MP3/DVD/CD player, rip the songs THEN put them in the same stereo.. listen to the quality then, and see what you get. compare apples to apples.

Another thing, the "ability to do whatever...blah blah.." has *NEVER* been there, that's called a copyright. Doing what you will, violates that copyright. You have the right to play a song on a CD, its illegal to record it, rip, or duplicate it in any fashion. Sure, its not an unenforceable law, but its the law none-the-less.

iTunes has very good quality songs, my beef is paying a buck per song, that's just rediculous, but there is certainly nothing wrong with the quality. Its 44Khz, 24 bit song, is still the same CD or MP3, I don't care what you say.

And I can prove it.. You got a spectrograph? run it through there, and you will the same peaks and valleys on any given song. Its fine. And for whatever reason a song doesn't have quite the same peack/valley, those are at the extreme range, and you *CANNOT* distinquish those, because they are beyond human hearing.

So stick that in your peace pipe and smoke it.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 8:38 PM

I'm sorry, but I have to laugh at "and I have a top quality stereo on my car."

The acoustics in a car do not, in anyway, allow for high fidelity music to really be heard at it's best. There are far too many factors (shape, background noise, etc) that will mean that any car stereo, no matter how good, will not match a hi-fi at home, or even a decent set of headphones.

That said - there are audible differences between 128kbps MP3s and CDs. That's a fact. There is no discernable difference between CDs and 320kbps MP3 files, IMHO. Try as I might, I can't pick the difference. That said, I still encode with FLAC. :P

You're 100% right with this statement though:
"Another thing, the "ability to do whatever...blah blah.." has *NEVER* been there..." Indeed, in Australia, until recently (iTunes Store just opened) there was no legal way of using an iPod, unless you were using songs without copyright. Australia has the most draconian copyright laws of any OECD member.

Now for the topic... good on Apple showing the music industry that prosecution for piracy is not the way to make money. :P Now will Apple please start selling lossless audio? Or at least high-quality MP3s?! ;)

Score: 0

By DJOmegaRush

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 4:11 PM

I've NEVER had a complaint about the MP3s (converted from the Protected iTunes tracks using either JHymn or burning them to CD-R) that I mix in my sets. Nowdays, compressed audio is close enough to CD Audio that no one minds the VERY LITTLE bit of quality you lose from CD to mp3 (128-256kbs).
iTunes is a HUGE help to my iTunes / Final Scratch setup. It allows me to do more with my music than I can with any other player and Final Scratch Import my iTunes.
I can do what I damn well please with my music. , even from iTunes. Educate yourself before you make comments. The only advantage I can see from using a audio CD for my mixes over MP3s is I get less crackle at VERY SLOW SPEEDS on my turntables. When scratching and mixing in a real environment, MP3s (ripped from iTunes) sound just as good as CDs to the audience.

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 2:16 PM

It's actually iTunes, you seem to have a typo.

But as for your second statement, you can always burn music purchased from the iTunes Music Store to CD and re-rip them. While an extra step, you can still "do whatever you damned well please with what you've paid for."

As for your first statement, most consumers wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an iTunes AAC file, an MP3 or a CDDA/FLAC file. If you gave them an awesome sound system and compared sounds side-by-side they might, but most don't care. People want music and they want it quick and cheap.

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 11:15 AM

Amazing that people still actually buy physical CD's.

Score: 0

By maniakmx3

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 11:17 AM

I buy CDs all the time, it's nice to have a physical Library. Best buy all the way! they prolly have the best/cheapest selection,

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 11:25 AM

Yeah, there's little things about CDs that I still like. If I'm on a road trip I can just grab my favorite CDs to play and not have to worry about burning them (and an iPod over tape or radio sucks, IMHO, so that's out of the question.) I also like getting the lyric sheets which are sometimes inside. Its also easier for me to move my collection from work to home. I'm not against DRM, but if I don't have to use it its that much easier.

Score: 0

By rijp

edited Nov 22, 2005 - 6:31 PM

Fine, that's a given.. however..

My burned cd can hold 150 songs... of MP3 tracks. How many on a CD? 9? 10? maybe 15 if you are lucky?

I can burn 6 or 7 CD's and hour, that's over 1000 songs I have at my fingertips, so while you are swerving all over the road looking for that CD with only a couple songs, and switching during traffic, I pop in 1 Cd, and it will take me 600 miles.. without touching it.. Can your Cd do that? I don't think so...

Screw lyric sheets, that's a retarded argument, just like album art..who the hell cares? you want lyrics? Go to the net, google the lyrics, print them..done! Most CD's don't even come with lyrics anyway, so even that doesnt' stand up. Less than I would say a third of CD's even include lyrics anymore..

And what's easier to move 100 songs.. on 10 or 15 audio CD's, with only a few songs you like on each one..

OR a burned CD with the songs you REALLY want.

I don't necessarily like iTunes, but hands down MP3 is far and away much easier to manage..

AND!!! my deck can show artist, song title, album, track, year if I want.. and I can sort by artist, album, song.. can you do that with a CD? NOPE!

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 8:40 PM

The problem being that said MP3 CD is illegal, unless the material is not copyrighted. This is regardless of ownership of original CD.

Score: 0

By jessshaun

posted Nov 23, 2005 - 12:59 AM

Frankly, if it were illegal, then the players would also be with the way we are going.

Show me some proof of that, or frankly I don't believe a word of that.

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 7:05 PM

You have some very valid points. Let me clarify my position.

First, I don't own a car. When I said go on road trips I meant other people's cars or renting. All of the cars I've rented have CD players and all of my friend's cars have them, too.

As for the MP3 deck itself, that's totally the way to go, I completely agree. That or just an iPod or something similar connected to line-in, if that's what you got. I very rarely listen to my CDs themselves, the first thing I do is rip them down to MP3. But I've always got the CDs for when I need to hit the road, that's my point.

As for lyrics sheets and art, this is a personal thing that I understand where some people just don't get it. Most contemporary artists don't want you to have lyrics because it makes you realize their songs don't mean much. Most of the music I listen to has "meat" to the lyrics and those artists usually provide lyrics with them or other descriptions. Looking at the last couple of CDs I bought, "OAR - In Between Now and Then", "Ani DiFranco - Knuckle Down" and "Rush - Chronicles" all have lyrics or descriptions that I've read and found interesting. Even my "Best of Dio" has some cool info inside, and I'm willing to pay a little more to get that.

Score: 0

By beta_animal

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 12:47 PM

Buying a CD has some major advantages:

Your music is always backed up in a high-quality format, you can convert it to as many different formats and as many different quality levels as you like (although not if you've bought a SonyBMG CD...), it can be played just about anywhere, you get all the artwork and leaflets, and you have a physical object to show for your money. Critically, CDs generally cost about the same as an album download, and they're not (usually) infected with DRM.

I'm amazed people DON'T buy CDs!

Score: 0

By rijp

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 6:27 PM

I am amazed you have a brain..

So you are saying you buy CD's because its in high quality format.. So I can't buy 15 songs from iTunes, and burn them to an Audio CD? The difference being.. I get what I WANT! Not what the CD HAS! You can't buy a custom CD.. unless its some 80's dance album, but its still limited to the producers choice, not yours.

I get music MY way. A physical object, please! How many times do you actually take the album art and admire it? The first time you open the CD? If you sit down and read the lyric sheets and look at the pretty cover art.. while you are listening to your music, you need help. Music is AUDIO, not VISUAL. you want video, watch MTV.

DRM isn't an infection, its an attempt to keep people from stealing the music.. Sure I download music, and I rip CD's, and I circumvent copy protection, so what?

The issue here is quality, not legitimate music. If I want a song, I could care less if it includes the album art and lyrics, I can get those..

If you listen to the radio for a song, you telling me you are bummed because you can't see the album art or read the lyrics? Get real!

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

edited Nov 22, 2005 - 7:26 PM

Really quick, not everyone is connected to the net 24/7. I'm an computer programmer and I find I need to unplug every once in a while. I actually do like to read along the first time I get a CD, I'm almost always surprised with some little thing I was singing wrong. When I get home from shopping I don't want to sit at my computer surfing for lyrics, hoping Evil Lyrics pulled the right ones for me. If you think that an album is just about the music, I'm not going to argue against you. For some of us its more. Even in iTunes there's tons of albums that have music videos and booklets that come along with full albums, and that's something that really appeals to me.

As for MTV, I don't know how old you are but for some of us its dead. I haven't watched lately but a couple of years ago the only time that they aired full videos, start to finish without interuptions was from 2 to 4 in the morning or something. Most of the day was some reality show or Carson popping up in the middle or end of the video. M2 was closer but that's not available everywhere.

[edit]
As for radio, I stopped that a long time ago.

Score: 0

By radiomixtape

edited Nov 22, 2005 - 8:33 PM

I still like CD's. I like holding something after I have parted with $18 dollars. I like rediscovering it after I move. I like being able to (at any moment I choose to) pick from any of the hundreds of albums I have purchased over the years that I have loved enough to take care of and listen. Most of those albums where recorded, pressed and sold long before iTunes, MP3s or Media Players. And here is the greatest part. Should the day arrive where I actually can afford some killer home stereo, I like the fact that ALL of my music will play in its intended glory while the deficiencies of a lossy compression would only become more audible. Now I happen to think that there are many excellent uses for MP3's and even iTunes. I've actually made a web site around my beliefs, but I hope we don't spend ourselves away from the excellent technology of the CD just because we think that this new medium is better than libraries of content.
-Jason
Radio Mix Tape - Music was meant to be heard
http://www.radiomixtape.com

Score: 0

By #include

posted Nov 22, 2005 - 10:39 PM

what ever happened to 8trk tape. much more to hold then a skinny cd

Score: 0

By net-paw

edited Nov 24, 2005 - 8:58 AM

I first used iTunes on my PC a few months ago and only because I converted my old Motorola e398 to use the iTunes app. Firstly it was a hacked version that only allowed 25 songs (Now 100 using Rokr MP).
After playing with iTunes for all of 5 minutes I am now a convert. I can now use my "iTunes" phone much the same as a iPod, watch full converted dvd's take photos and even record video, store documents, keep pictures of my family, read the news send emails, sit down at the beach drinking beer while listening to the tunes from the phones speakers and even make phone calls. ( With the added bonus I can just switch batteries on the go )
As soon as the Razr comes out with iTunes and expandable memory here in OZ I will be the first in line at my local phone shop. The way I see it and many will dismiss the Rokr as a misguided effort by both Apple and Motorola. But as soon as it allows people to download tunes direct to their mobile from the iTunes store Apple and Motorola will be on a winner. I am sure there will be literally millions of people that will pay twice as much for that convenience. ( Well they pay that now for ringtones you can create from programs such as Audacity )
I can now understand why the success of the iPod has translated to other Mac hardware. Good on em I say.I guess the point I am trying to make is that it makes it easier for people to have access with their music on the go. That has to be good for the artists who are no longer beingr ripped off by their labels but also people who download tunes illegaly. Good on em.
Oh as for MP3's sounding as good as a cd. I think not. In a portable device or even a top of the line car stereo they will NEVER sound as good as a cd on a TRUE hifi. By that I do not mean your average sony etc. Yes you CAN notice the difference, it all depends on the equipment you use.
But the convenience of being able to carry around 9 or 10 cd's in your mobile or your whole collection on your iPod can not be easily dismissed.

Score: 0

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