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iTunes reaches 1 billion downloads mark

27 February 2006 7:35 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 19 comments

Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes music store reached a major milestone a few days ago when a teenager in the US unknowingly bought the billionth track sold from the site. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the billionth download represented "a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet". The teenager, Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield in Michigan won a lot of goodies from Apple for buying Coldplay: Speed of Sound.

The 16 year old won a 20-inch Mac computer, 10 iPods and a US$10,000 gift certificate for iTunes. Apple will also establish a scholarship in his name to New York's Juilliard School of Music. Hate or love Apple, you have to give credit for the figure of downloads. You cannot compare legal downloads to file sharing, considering each track from iTunes sold worldwide cost about 99c, and file sharing is free and generally easier to use.

While this is good news for the music industry, it also did take a chunk out of CD sales, according to official data. 618.9 million albums were sold in 2005, down from 762.8 million in 2001, a drop which the music industry blames almost completely on file sharing. Now about 14% of Internet users have used iTunes, with teenagers being the biggest visitors to the service and most likely to purchase tracks.

Source:
BBC News

Permalink to this article

Jobs: Zune is no threat to iPod (16 October 2006)

iPod users avoiding iTunes Store (17 September 2006)

Apple keeps tight grip on iTunes 99c price policy (4 May 2006)

DVD-length music videos at iTunes (27 March 2006)

iTunes software to overtake RealPlayer (20 March 2006)

First movie added to iTunes store (14 March 2006)

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Discuss this article!
hankchill (Newbie) 27 February 2006 8:20
2 words: Lucky bugger. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1 March 2006 1:23
Lethal_B (Moderator) 27 February 2006 8:21
Even though I despise all tracks that are sold legally due to the high pricing, DRM technolgy & abysmal bitrates... credit where credit is due. I still feel sorry for those who purchase these tracks from iTunes, though, as I feel they are ill-informed of what they are actually getting.. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 27 February 2006 10:00
All i can say is. It is amazing what they can doo and this kid is the envy of all his friends now :) [ + quote]
jumpman34 (Inactive) 27 February 2006 11:01
yo moma [ + quote]
anubis66 (AfterDawn Addict) 27 February 2006 11:32
i personally hate using itunes music store, and only if i get free songs do i use it. either way many ppl are having issues with itunes where when you click it to start it it just has an unexpected error and never loads. thousands of ipods have been sold due to this. ive been using m:trip now cuz its just as good. [ + quote]
iccee (Junior Member) 27 February 2006 11:52
I wish I could launch something this powerful. I cannot get over how much this has actually taken off. I tip my hat...despite the fact that I don't like iTunes or Apple, I am envious... [ + quote]
DVDBack23 (Staff Member) 27 February 2006 19:56
wow, they gave him like 13,000 dollars worth of gifts, boy do i wish i had that... [ + quote]
vietorisz (Junior Member) 28 February 2006 3:41
have a look at a working, existing and legal example of how Itunes should work and how custumers should be treated (if you haven't heard already about it): allofmp3.com. Itunes it's just trendy and fashionable so are Ipods and snobs buy it cause it gives them credit on the streets, white earbuds with white wires, what can it be? surely just an Ipod [ + quote]
Rikoshay (Member) 28 February 2006 6:51
Shoot, with all that money, he can go out and buy a REAL computer! :D Man, to have a scholarship named after you for downloading ONE SONG, that's crazy! I have to give Mac some props for this. [ + quote]
vadimo (Member) 28 February 2006 9:15
wow nice win! but 10 iPods lol, why 10? I guess every ipod will be for diffrent situation like ipod for school, for going out, for running and etc. I put on evil smile after reading this: "it also did take a chunk out of CD sales...." I buy CDs from ebay or amazon now, they are twice cheaper than in HMV, these CD shops pissing me off now, charging �11-15 for a CD, I say foock that! [ + quote]
mrbungle8 (Newbie) 28 February 2006 12:07
lucky bugger... if i know being a "square" and buying al sorts of lame cheesy pop music was to pay off... id drop my musical taste like that SNAPS nah... im still glad i dont use itunes... what a blummin rip off... i rather buy the full album on tape cassette for the same price... which reminds me,, my friend has a tape player converter that convertes cassettes into mp3's... sounds like crap... but so does all digital music in my eyes.. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1 March 2006 1:23
XxRUINSxX (Member) 28 February 2006 12:12
If only I had been that billionth customer...bugger [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1 March 2006 1:23
hot_ice (Senior Member) 28 February 2006 13:30
Big deal, he won perhaps 15000$ worth of merchandise. Personally, I would rather win Powerball with a loto ranging in the millions. lol [ + quote]
KrazyKarl (Newbie) 28 February 2006 23:03
The damn kid prolly D/Led a Backstreet Boys song and now gets a scholarship in his name. And, if I were him I'd sell those ipods on ebay and makes some actual money off Apple to pay for all the wasted money going into buying itunes music [ + quote]
creaky (Moderator) 1 March 2006 1:24
let's keep the language a tad cleaner for our younger viewers ppl gif created by phantom69, he's a good lad Forum Rules - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487 'Verbatim Taiyo Yuden', Verbatim DataLifePlus, Taiyo Yuden & Ritek G05 are the ONLY media allowed near my Burners. ..Memorex/CMC/Imation/TDK - don't let them near your Burner... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/232406 .. NO MORE "Help me bridge" ADVERTISEMENT TYPE POSTS... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/287456 [ + quote]
hot_ice (Senior Member) 1 March 2006 21:29
A billion downloads, how much revenue does that amount to I wonder...? [ + quote]
Lethal_B (Moderator) 1 March 2006 22:38
The revenue from the iTunes Music Store isn't a patch on the income they get from the sale of iPods.. coming up to the 40 million mark now.. Credits for my "Lethal" sig go to the wonderful Mrs B. Props & Grats. Userbars @ http://www.userbars.co.uk/ The Source for Techies ~ http://www.xtreme-source.com/ [ + quote]
Excel2005 (Junior Member) 2 March 2006 13:32
A $10000 gift certificate? Who has the space (or the taste in music) for 10000 songs? [ + quote]
Lethal_B (Moderator) 2 March 2006 13:37
Well, at the moment, my song count is 12 197, give or take a few videos.. so it is certainly possible. \|Lethal_B\|AfterDawn\|2006\| Credits for my "Lethal" sig go to the wonderful Mrs B. Props & Grats. Userbars @ http://www.userbars.co.uk/ The Source for Techies ~ http://www.xtreme-source.com/ [ + quote]