AfterDawn: Tech news

iTunes hits 2 million sales

Written by Jari Ketola @ 14 May 2003 5:26 User comments (6)

iTunes hits 2 million sales Who ever said you can't sell music on-line and make a profit obviously forgot to mention that to Steve Jobs. Apple's iTunes on-line music store has sold over 2 million songs after its launch only 16 days ago.
Internet.com writes:
"At 99-cents a song or between $4 and $18 for an album, Apple is beginning to see a hefty profit. The company has yet to disclose how much its profit is being offset by the hosting costs or the reported 60 percent cut that goes to the labels. Still using rough estimates, Apple just made an estimated $2.3 million in a week and upwards of $5 million in the last two weeks based solely on its iTunes service."

Well done, Apple! Maybe RIAA, and music labels should learn from them and focus their efforts on bringing similar music services to PC-users as well, instead of wasting their money on trying to force people out of the habit of sharing their music. Is there an alternative for us, the PC-users, if we want to listen to MP3s? I'd say: no, we don't. If I can't rip my CD to MP3 format due to a copy protection scheme, I turn to one of the numerous peer-to-peer networks that are at my disposal. Given the choice, I'd rather purchase and download albums in MP3 format, and burn an audio CD should I need one.



Apple will be releasing a PC-version of iTunes by the end of 2003.

Source:
Internet.com

Previous Next  

6 user comments

115.5.2003 01:32

iTunes will be launching for the PC. Apple have already announced it.

215.5.2003 08:02

WOW 2 million sales!! and its not even avai;lible for pc users! thats amazing!! Well i hope the riaa realise it!

315.5.2003 12:45

I'm not with many people on this subject. I believe all music should be free. Well for me anyway, Unless all the P2P sites disappear, I'm not ever going to buy a CD. Tribal-T

415.5.2003 15:07
TeddyKGB
Inactive

Being a die hard capitalist, I have to applaud Apple's efforts on this one. However I have to agree with Tribal's viewpoint as well. I could potentially see myself paying $.99 for a good track though. That is if they ever make them avaiable for real computers!

516.5.2003 04:25
Azra_B
Inactive

Id pay 99c a song. Not bad deal. Apple has really come through on this one. This is gonna kick the crap out of Rhapsody and the other ones.

616.5.2003 14:17

I'd pay $0.99 for a CD. Shipping costs on a buy it used, burn it, and resell it approach. With only having a 56k modem and no interest in upgrading, it takes almost a hour per mp3 download from a p2p network. Can apple guarantee me that if my ISP decides to disconnect me during the download that I will get another chance to download or a refund? When I download non-mp3 files I sometimes have to start from scratch b/c of my ISP. I have not gone to iTunes' website, but I hope they have good software or excellent customer service for peeps like me. This service should kick off very well when it finally hits PC. Bravo for the sales numbers!

Comments have been disabled for this article.

News archive