iTunes Anniversary Conference Call

[MacBytes]

Category: Apple Services
Link: Jobs Conference Call Announced for iTunes Music Store 1 Year Anniversary (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20040426150443)
Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[MacRumors]

According to MacMinute (http://www.macminute.com/2004/04/26/itunes), Steve Jobs will be hosting a conference call on Wednesday, April 28 at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The call marks the one year anniversary of the iTunes Music Store:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs will update media and industry analysts on the iTunes Music Store one year after its launch

[Flowbee]

So I guess there will be no big announcements. Oh well...

[Don't panic]

so we'll finally know how many tunes they sold
any guess (including pepsi)?
I'll go first: 87 millions

[AndrewMT]

You have to wonder why Steve Jobs is hosting this call. The CFO or someone else would usually handle this type of event.

[ifjake]

the music store is a pioneering business model for digital music. i think Jobs is right to handle this one.

[AmigoMac]

No pod this time, no PowerPod, no AVPod, VideoPod, whateverPod... Just wait!

They will be happy to say they got around 95 M and they can say they reached the goal while they hold over 75% market... some more bla bla bla.. and we will be here in 1 week against each other because of the success of iTMS... :rolleyes:

Keep going up apple! ... We love & hate you! ... like most football teams... :p

[Waragainstsleep]

iTMS Europe maybe?
Worldwide?

[dontmatter]

so, what's the announcment as to number of songs sold? How far from the goal? Looking forward to knowing....

[Dippo]

so we'll finally know how many tunes they sold
any guess (including pepsi)?
I'll go first: 87 millions


I am going to guess 72 million.

I am sure the number will announced on the 28th, and nothing else.

[Wash!!]

All the media say that itms is a failure cause they did not reach 100 million songs, anything to make Apple look like is going down in flames... :D

[kansast]

iTMS Europe maybe?
Worldwide?

yea.. that would be nice.. have to keep that momentum going.

[Lloyd Intalan]

Come on guys, let's just greet the iTMS a Happy birthday!!! :D

[stoid]

All the media say that itms is a failure cause they did not reach 100 million songs, anything to make Apple look like is going down in flames... :D

It's no fun to read an article about a company have amazing success. It makes you feel like a failure. If you write about a company's shortcomings, regardless of how off-base you are, it makes the reader feel ok with their own shortcomings. It humanizes the company.

[Wash!!]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY iTMS I'm glad I can be part of a piece of history!!!! :cool:

[JediL1]

Still a day and a half left, we should try to buy the songs now that we've been putting off. Hopefully, the numbers won't be much lower than 100 million.

[howard]

wow that really snuck up on me, i knew there was going to be something coming up...

i can't believe its been a year already

[Wash!!]

It's no fun to read an article about a company have amazing success. It makes you feel like a failure. If you write about a company's shortcomings, regardless of how off-base you are, it makes the reader feel ok with their own shortcomings. It humanizes the company.

I'm the type the person that looks a the glass half full all the time no matter what the situation is, it just bothers me to see so many complaints, maybe is because I was born in a country where you have to make do the best with what you have and waist nothing...

[pkradd]

There could be a iPod 4th Gen announced on Tuesday, the day before the conference call. Check Apple Store website!

[dontmatter]

Darn it, I wish I weren't so lazy.... I want somebody to look up all the previously relesased numbers, do some simple statistical modeling, and tell me 77 million, plus or minus 3.5 million.

c'mon, we're all nerds on this board.... I just wanna have lunch first.

[eSnow]

There could be a iPod 4th Gen announced on Tuesday, the day before the conference call. Check Apple Store website!

I doubt it. I don't see a new iPod until HP has sold a lot of rebranded ones. It's a contract they will want to fulfill in a way that does not anger HP.

[halse]

the most interesting number (to me) will be the number of iPod minis sold (probably well above 200,000)

[gunnmjk]

so we'll finally know how many tunes they sold
any guess (including pepsi)?
I'll go first: 87 millions

My guess will be 87 million and 1 :p

[aswitcher]

No pod this time, no PowerPod, no AVPod, VideoPod, whateverPod... Just wait!


Well I an hoping your wrong ;) :D

[fpnc]

I wonder if Steve will be "smoothing the waters" for possible price increases. I suspect that Apple had a one to two year contract with the major music labels and with all of the recent talk about music download price increases I can only assume that the days of 99 cent downloads will probably end within the next year. Unfortunately, I think price increases are probably inevitable. I'd say that they will likely end up at something like $1.50 to $2.00 per song with a discount for an entire album. One certain way to kill this entire industry is for the music labels to price downloads at over $2 per song. I suspect that some in the music industry are already thinking that they'll be able to do that and in fact some reports suggest prices as high as $2.50.

As for the total Music Store download number, I'd guess 79 million.

[rosalindavenue]

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=435

I hope so, and I hope they are available right away....

[The Grimace]

Isn't the contract that Apple has with the industry only for one year? Could we see a change in the pricing structure, as rumored?

(tig)

[aswitcher]

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=435

I hope so, and I hope they are available right away....

Interesting...will be buying an ipod in 3-4 weeks, and hopefully anything new will be out by then.

[joemama]

I wonder if Steve will be "smoothing the waters" for possible price increases. I suspect that Apple had a one to two year contract with the major music labels and with all of the recent talk about music download price increases I can only assume that the days of 99 cent downloads will probably end within the next year. Unfortunately, I think price increases are probably inevitable. I'd say that they will likely end up at something like $1.50 to $2.00 per song with a discount for an entire album. One certain way to kill this entire industry is for the music labels to price downloads at over $2 per song. I suspect that some in the music industry are already thinking that they'll be able to do that and in fact some reports suggest prices as high as $2.50.

As for the total Music Store download number, I'd guess 79 million.

I say NO way will there be a price increase! THink about it - Apple doesn't reach the 100 million mark it predicted and that was by giving songs away! How will increasing the price make more people purchase songs?

99 cents is still TOO much..if anything, they need to go down.

..That and the iMS Europe coming aboard soon..

[dontmatter]

I wonder if Steve will be "smoothing the waters" for possible price increases. I suspect that Apple had a one to two year contract with the major music labels and with all of the recent talk about music download price increases I can only assume that the days of 99 cent downloads will probably end within the next year. Unfortunately, I think price increases are probably inevitable. I'd say that they will likely end up at something like $1.50 to $2.00 per song with a discount for an entire album. One certain way to kill this entire industry is for the music labels to price downloads at over $2 per song. I suspect that some in the music industry are already thinking that they'll be able to do that and in fact some reports suggest prices as high as $2.50.

As for the total Music Store download number, I'd guess 79 million.

God I hope not. Anything over a buck and it just couldn't compete. 99 cents is the perfect price point. If the music industry raises the prices, all they're doing is selling losing those sales. Convenience is not worth the price. That would majorly suck. But, maybe it would increase contracts with indie labels?

[NusuniAdmin]

I heard the 4'rth gen ipod may be released. 50 gig top end, 40 gig medium end, and 20 or 30 gig low end.

[JohnGillilan]

Any guesses as to how many Pepsi songs were actually redeemed?

[gop007]

Don't see a price increase. What I do see is more PR with good sales numbers and additional songs. iTunes has provided me with an opportunity to easily purchase songs. Since its introduction I have spent well over $150. What keeps iTunes popular are not the new PC users but loyal mac fans. :D

[NusuniAdmin]

Any guesses as to how many Pepsi songs were actually redeemed?

generally speaking with contests that involve typing codes in online, generally only 30-50% of the people actually type in the code, so id say around 10-30 mil

[dontmatter]

Another thing I want to know. Anybody know how many songs are now for sale on itms? Seems like th 500,000 mark was a good while ago....wouldn't it be nice to have a million sometime soon? Or better yet, how many continuous years worth of music they have. Hi, we now have enough music to be played from jesus' birth to your death. And, we're adding 10 years worth, every day. Happy eternity!

[dontmatter]

I heard the 4'rth gen ipod may be released. 50 gig top end, 40 gig medium end, and 20 or 30 gig low end.

If so, they need to release this with a new mini. 16 gigs is way too big of a gap. I'd imagine the majority of the market would be between the mini's 4 gigs and the possible low end 20 gigs. It sure would be stupid to leave such a gap. Maybe that, in combination wth the 4 GB mini dropping by 75 bucks, and a 10 mini at 249? Only.... what to do about all those customers who still haven't had their mini's shipped...bad press there. Man.

[sethypoo]

Come on guys, let's just greet the iTMS a Happy birthday!!! :D...

...As we b*tch and moan for iTMS Europe!

The Europe side of it would be a great thing to announce on it's anniversary.

[Windowlicker]

I just want some confirmation and details about itms europe. like what countries will it spread to and such.

I really don't think they're gonna raise the prices.. the idea is to sell cheap (and easy) music. if it's $2 a piece, it'll be just as expensive as the physical copies (referring to CDs).

[Piker]

"Hi, this is Steve Jobs, thanks for joining us. iTunes has gone bananas since we launched it a year ago. We are approaching 100 million songs sold. Going to Europe with the iTMS in June. Since record execs are evil, we have to raise the price on some of the songs, but not all of them. We still think sales will keep booming. Look for some significant product announcements in the upcoming months. See you at WWDC."

That's my prediction.

-Piker

[minstryoffunk]

I agree that it would be a bad idea to raise prices…99¢/song has such a nice ring to it. Apple should have 2 minis - a small one (like the 4GB) that would have a dell-like price (close to cost to get people in the door) and then a not so mini (8GB maybe?) at a better (for Apple) price. I suppose the problem there is the cost of the drives. The 4GB drive retails for more than the mini, correct?

[MacFan25]

I hope that Apple has made their goal of 100 million songs. I suppose it is possible that they reached it, with the publicity from the Pepsi promotion. But I'm skeptical since I don't think the free songs they were giving away were going to count on their total songs number, though I could be wrong.

It's been a great year for iTunes. Hopefully it will continue to be just as successful as it has been.

[maelstromr]

generally speaking with contests that involve typing codes in online, generally only 30-50% of the people actually type in the code, so id say around 10-30 mil


Didn't I read somewhere that Apple was NOT counting the promo songs in this?

And I believe they actually estimate 15-20% actually using the codes, on the high end.

[dongmin]

generally speaking with contests that involve typing codes in online, generally only 30-50% of the people actually type in the code, so id say around 10-30 mil

iTMS hit 50 mil on 3/15, not counting the Pepsi giveaway. So another 10-12 mil with regular sales (they were doing 2.5 mil a week in March) and say 20-25 mil from Pepsi, we get about 80-85 mil I'm guessin.

Since this is only a conference call, I doubt Steve will make any product announcements. They usually hold special media events for new products. Maybe Jobs will give a hint about iTMS Europe.

[ryanw]

I wonder if Steve will be "smoothing the waters" for possible price increases. I suspect that Apple had a one to two year contract with the major music labels and with all of the recent talk about music download price increases I can only assume that the days of 99 cent downloads will probably end within the next year. Unfortunately, I think price increases are probably inevitable. I'd say that they will likely end up at something like $1.50 to $2.00 per song with a discount for an entire album. One certain way to kill this entire industry is for the music labels to price downloads at over $2 per song. I suspect that some in the music industry are already thinking that they'll be able to do that and in fact some reports suggest prices as high as $2.50.

As for the total Music Store download number, I'd guess 79 million.

And see, this is total crap. I can't imagine prices being any higher. They are making a higher percent PER DOWNLOADED song than each album sold. they don't have to do CD duplication with the digital media. On album that they sell for $12 in the retail stores $3 goes to retail store, $1.50 - $3.00 goes to duplication and printed art work depending on colors/quality/etc, and the rest goes to the record label. So they make $6 on an album sold in retail stores, and about $9 off an album sold off iTMS. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

They're just whining because people can buy just the good songs and not buy the fluff songs. Good bands sell all their songs. Take a percentage of singles:albums ratio and that would show you the ratio of lamebands:goodbands.

[applekid]

I only plan on hearing things on reaffirming plans to take iTMS international and celebrating its anniversary. I'm glad that it's at least getting a conference call for some recognition.

I doubt to hear about any price changes except for maybe lowering them. I would like to hear a drop in the iPod Mini price, but I doubt they resolved the static problem and this would probably create unreachable demand and slow the chances for iPod Minis going international.

[Putto]

I believe Steve Jobs will disclose he is really Satan and is tempting us all with earthly pleasures. Think about the second coming of Steve Jobs..?

[nyassa3898]

Any guesses as to how many Pepsi songs were actually redeemed?

I bet its not as many as there could have been, I have seen more yelllow itunes caps after the promo then during, atleast in my area.

[Foocha]

I don't recall Apple ever holding an conference call like this before - isn't this type of event normally reserved for their financials?

Since this is a new type of event, its hard to predict whether there will be announcements, athough the fact that they're not having a fully-fledged media event would perhaps indicate that there are not going to be big US announcements - perhaps a European announcement?

[bertagert]

89 million

[rspress]

so we'll finally know how many tunes they sold
any guess (including pepsi)?
I'll go first: 87 millions

I say 71 million. I wound up winning 120 songs myself. Doing all that shopping I did notice a few problems with the iTMS.

1. Some artists greatest works are not available. The Rolling Stones studio version of 'satisfaction' is not available. There are many more instances of this as well. Who decides what gets listed on the service?

2. Disparity between songs listed in the information about the group and available songs. They have information about groups saying how important this album was and how that a certain song makes the whole album. Then the album is only partial and the songs mentioned are missing.

3. iTMS needs to have bookmarking and one button link send built into the iTunes application. Bookmarks are really needed for when you find that jewel of a song or album you are interested in but you wish to hold off on buying until you research it or other reasons. It would also be nice to just click one button and have it send the link to the current album you are viewing to someone in your address book.

4. The new pricing they have been using recently sucks the big one! Who wants to pay more for a downloaded version of an album that it does to buy the real thing. Also some songs now are over .99, I have seen some as high as 2.49, this is way too much.


As far as the iTunes app goes it should support ogg and wma, so should the iPod.

[wdlove]

I bet its not as many as there could have been, I have seen more yellow itunes caps after the promo then during, at least in my area.

Everyone still has until Friday April 30 to redeem your free song. Please continue to drink up on the Pepsi!

[fatzmack]

i'm somewhat displeased with the idea of any price hikes in the iTunes service, or any online music download service. my theory is that people purchase music through services like iTunes for the convenience . in the case for iTunes users, they use it because 1) they own an ipod, 2) why shell out 17.99 at tower records, when you can get the same album for 9.99 at iTunes?

admittedly, there are some notable advantages to purchasing cd's off of retail shelves i.e. sound quality, packaging, and quite possibly some extra dvd features... but as i have come to purchase aac's 128kb formatted singles and albums, i don't find the $8 price difference redeeming (the dvd extras, better sound quality, lyrics, etc.). as an audiophile, i can tell the difference between cd quality and 128kb aac's, but the average joe won't know the difference. only if you punch up the bass and volume up significantly to domestic disturbance level would one notice a difference in quality between downloaded music (itune's aac) and off the shelf cds. but anyone who would go that far with sound settings would logically hit towers or best buy [i]b/c they need to, or know, or whatever. i myself am quite happy with the aac compression; the sound is pretty damn good. it's good enough for me to rock off to in the subway, and not realize that there's cd quality available out there... yet i could go get it... but what does my wallet think?

...got lost there. know what i'm saying?...uh..maybe not :rolleyes:

[ITR 81]

My range would be around 87-93 million.

Either way I look at it iTMS will hit 100 million by the end of May.

I'm looking forward to a 4gen iPod.

[bored]

Category: Apple Services
Link: Jobs Conference Call Announced for iTunes Music Store 1 Year Anniversary (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20040426150443)


The link no longer works. Anyone have a cached copy?

[fener]

If so, they need to release this with a new mini. 16 gigs is way too big of a gap. I'd imagine the majority of the market would be between the mini's 4 gigs and the possible low end 20 gigs. It sure would be stupid to leave such a gap. Maybe that, in combination wth the 4 GB mini dropping by 75 bucks, and a 10 mini at 249? Only.... what to do about all those customers who still haven't had their mini's shipped...bad press there. Man.


It is "currently" not possible to release 10 GB iPod Minis. As I know, there is NO 10 GB Microdrives, which iPod Mini currently uses. -- U can check.

[fener]

4th Gen iPod is on the horizon. Would be release Tuesday, Wednesday, if not definitely at WWDC.

And,

There is NO iPod Mini updates until September / October. Today's MAX capacity on a Microdrive is 4 GB, and thats currently in the iPod Mini. If you check the prices of that 4 GB Microdrive, you will see the price of the iPod Mini is NOT EXPENSIVE AT ALL, cheap indeed. Thats explains part of why its sooo popular

Regards

[MCCFR]

I say 71 million. I wound up winning 120 songs myself. <-snip->



Sad as it may seem, I have an Excel spreadsheet with all of the milestone announcement data for iTMS loaded, and using two different models for predicting where we'd be on Wednesday returned a number between 70.0 and 70.1m excluding Pepsi promo.

I doubt that the promo numbers will be released until the end of the quarter; it's Pepsi's promo not Apple's and the promo redemption isn't up till Friday - hence the change in strategy as to whether the 100m included Pepsi or not. My theory is that when the dust has settled, Apple will be looking at around 20m redemptions.

[dontmakemehurtu]

:(

[J-Squire]

3. iTMS needs to have bookmarking and one button link send built into the iTunes application. Bookmarks are really needed for when you find that jewel of a song or album you are interested in but you wish to hold off on buying until you research it or other reasons. It would also be nice to just click one button and have it send the link to the current album you are viewing to someone in your address book.


Try using the shopping cart. You can add a song to your shopping cart as you browse, but this does not confirm the purchase. You can then go research it or whatever you plan on doing, and return to buy it.


4. The new pricing they have been using recently sucks the big one! Who wants to pay more for a downloaded version of an album that it does to buy the real thing. Also some songs now are over .99, I have seen some as high as 2.49, this is way too much.


Almost all tracks are .99c. HOWEVER, some tracks that exceed a certain length of time (I think 7:00) are priced higher, but I think that is a valid reason.


I am hopefull for 85-90m on April 28th.
Does anyone know if this call will be streamed over quicktime on the Apple Site?
Also, my prediction for announcements is that this might be a good time for iTunes 5? Not a big enough event for a major product, but enough attention to announce new software.

[Nemesis]

Darn it, I wish I weren't so lazy.... I want somebody to look up all the previously relesased numbers, do some simple statistical modeling, and tell me 77 million, plus or minus 3.5 million.

c'mon, we're all nerds on this board.... I just wanna have lunch first.

He, he, I'll bet Steve has spent his own $ 100 Million on downloads just to match his own prediction a year ago :p
He lovez muzic, after all ... :D

[Don't panic]

Sad as it may seem, I have an Excel spreadsheet with all of the milestone announcement data for iTMS loaded, and using two different models for predicting where we'd be on Wednesday returned a number between 70.0 and 70.1m excluding Pepsi promo.

I doubt that the promo numbers will be released until the end of the quarter; it's Pepsi's promo not Apple's and the promo redemption isn't up till Friday - hence the change in strategy as to whether the 100m included Pepsi or not. My theory is that when the dust has settled, Apple will be looking at around 20m redemptions.

i certainly hope you have your reasons for this.... :)
if you're right, it's lower than I thought, however I think when they set the 100 mil they were expecting:

a) a much better organized and more 'promoted' pepsi promotion --one of the worst i have ever seen. I don't think I would have noticed it at all if I weren't a machead

b) a significant input from the european (and other countries) iTMS, which I think were planned to start a while ago.

if think went right, 100 mil would have been an easy catch.

[dontmatter]

I say 71 million. I wound up winning 120 songs myself. Doing all that shopping I did notice a few problems with the iTMS.

1. Some artists greatest works are not available. The Rolling Stones studio version of 'satisfaction' is not available. There are many more instances of this as well. Who decides what gets listed on the service?

2. Disparity between songs listed in the information about the group and available songs. They have information about groups saying how important this album was and how that a certain song makes the whole album. Then the album is only partial and the songs mentioned are missing.

3. iTMS needs to have bookmarking and one button link send built into the iTunes application. Bookmarks are really needed for when you find that jewel of a song or album you are interested in but you wish to hold off on buying until you research it or other reasons. It would also be nice to just click one button and have it send the link to the current album you are viewing to someone in your address book.

4. The new pricing they have been using recently sucks the big one! Who wants to pay more for a downloaded version of an album that it does to buy the real thing. Also some songs now are over .99, I have seen some as high as 2.49, this is way too much.


As far as the iTunes app goes it should support ogg and wma, so should the iPod.

Unavailible music, be it the artists greatest, or the songs they promote in the artist's facts, is unavoidable. They're just trying to stike what deals they can with the labels. It certainly doesn't help the store, but it's not crippling it majorly.

The bookmarking and sending links would be great features, and apple should make them. But, they are extras- not the reason people are or are not going to use the service, just something that sweetens the deal. I expect apple will figure this out and add things like this soon, but I'm not worried about it until then.

The prices. There's no frickin' way they can change them. Not only would absolutely any price increase be enough to tip the scale between the value of buying CDs and the value of itms. There is even less flexibility because .99 vs. anything 1.x9 looks huge, and makes the psychological difference. Even more than that, if prices are inconsitant, that's a major minus. People aren't going to check itunes to see if this is a good deal and that's a rip off-they'll go to the record store instead. people have got to know exactly what they're getting before they even go shopping. Apple's stretching it enough by not always having full albums and not having all albums at 10 bucks, or buyable by the track. But that is OK, because those that I've seen still fit within never more than 99 cents a song. Break from that, though, and I see trouble.

Could you tell me a few of the songs that were more thatn 99 cents? I'd like to see for myself.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind if itunes and the music store did ogg and flac.

Lastly, whatever the news, and however miniscule itms sales are compared to acutal CDs, knowledge of itms is becoming ubiquitous. http://www.theonion.com/infograph/index.php?issue=4016

[dontmatter]

As I've said, price increases could particularly suck because it's that much worse to break a dollar. 1.09 would be a much more negative change than .89 could be positive. That barrier makes a big difference. and, a 50% price increase, or something of the sort, would REALLY kill sales.

But... supposing these rumors to be false, and the record companies get teh same amount of dough, then i imagine with apple selling in SO much more bulk than expected, costs per item must have dropped. If the quantity has made it enough cheaper, and apple is actually turning a profit, I think they should use the one year anniversary to drop the price to 89 cents. The profits, at this point, are puny, at best. But, give them up, and undercut the competition by ten cents, and it would become EVERYBODY's standard, because it's the cheapest and the best, and nobody would be willing to leave that to play in wma. Meanwhile, Apple is the only one selling in quantity. So everybody else currently selling at .99 would make the same zero profit as apple at .89, but apple would further increase market share.

That's just my little dream. Fax it over to somebody at apple.

[JohnGillilan]

Lastly, whatever the news, and however miniscule itms sales are compared to acutal CDs, knowledge of itms is becoming ubiquitous. http://www.theonion.com/infograph/index.php?issue=4016

I'm glad you posted this. I was thinking of doing the same. My personal favorite:

"Why are more Americans buying music online?" -- excited to see what level of excellence Wal-Mart will bring to the indsutry :) :)

[dontmatter]

I'm not trying to be a smartass, but....

Where are all of you even getting ogg?

Why would the Apple want Microsoft on the iPod?

Apple wouldn't want ms on the ipod. And, that's the problem-we aren't getting ogg, and worse, we ARENT playing it in itunes. But it's a superior format.... that's why apple should introduce it. So we can play with less lossyness.

[mklos]

You have to wonder why Steve Jobs is hosting this call. The CFO or someone else would usually handle this type of event.

I'm not sure about this, but I don't think the Chief Financial Office (CFO) would do anything concerning any products Apple provides. He bascially handles the financial stuff. This is not a financial conference call. Maybe someone like Phil Schiller would do this, or some one else in charge of marketing. If Steve Jobs is doing this then there must be an announcement of some kind.

[MCCFR]

i certainly hope you have your reasons for this.... :)
if you're right, it's lower than I thought, however I think when they set the 100 mil they were expecting:

<-snip->

if think went right, 100 mil would have been an easy catch.

Sadly, promotions are always designed to promote the big number (in this case, the $100 million giveaway) but are always geared to a much lower rate of redemption, sometimes as low as 2.5% to 5%.

So, 25 million is actually a really high number for any of these promotions given that you have to be interested in the basic concept to redeem, and you have to have a computer, really need a broadband connection and should have iTunes installed.

[MCCFR]

I'm not sure about this, but I don't think the Chief Financial Office (CFO) would do anything concerning any products Apple provides. He bascially handles the financial stuff. This is not a financial conference call. Maybe someone like Phil Schiller would do this, or some one else in charge of marketing. If Steve Jobs is doing this then there must be an announcement of some kind.

I doubt if it's much of an announcement, probably more a gloating 15 minutes of facts and figures.

My vision of it will a basic "Fsck you and the horse you rode in on" to the likes of Dave Fester, Glaser, Thurrott and the rest.

70 million tunes, 3 million iPods, x million copies of iTunes, possibly the announcement of iTMS UK/Germany/France/Japan.

[simply258]

Personally, since the current iPod is still a strong seller and there's really no real competitor, I don't think a new generation iPod should be released, maybe more storage is OK. A different class of iPod (video, etc) is a different story.

[craigdawg]

Jobs will be on the call to announce they've settled the lawsuit with Apple Corps and are now offering the entire Beatles catalog on ITMS.

How's that for wild, unsubstantiated speculation? :D

[howard]

i doubt there will be new ipods... those maybe during the next macworld

i think they'll go over 100million with the pepsi promo, whether they count that or not is another story, i don't know how those things work

where are you finding $2.50 songs? i havn't seen any... i'd like to check that out. if its really true i'm kinda horrified... thats way to much for a digital song

[Porchland]

With Apple recalling the store ads for iPod, I wonder if Steve will be announcing some new additions to the roster. Seems like I remember reading that Dave Matthews Band was going to be putting their catalog online sometime in the spring, and the Beatles are ripe for the picking.

I think some great, big-name content would go over better than new iPods right now.

[funkywhat2]

It is "currently" not possible to release 10 GB iPod Minis. As I know, there is NO 10 GB Microdrives, which iPod Mini currently uses. -- U can check.

If this were Slashdot, I'd hope this was modded to the top...
It's impoirtnat that people know that 4GB is the max that they'll be seeing in an iPod Mini for a while. The HDDs are expensive enough, and if you can get one in a larger capacity, it's only going to cost more. Unless you want drop a ton of bling on a Mini (the Pink is hard to resist, I know) don't count on it.

Besides, I thought the 1,000 songs was the "sweet spot." (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68838)

[SiliconAddict]

I think price increases are probably inevitable. I'd say that they will likely end up at something like $1.50 to $2.00 per song with a discount for an entire album. One certain way to kill this entire industry is for the music labels to price downloads at over $2 per song. I suspect that some in the music industry are already thinking that they'll be able to do that and in fact some reports suggest prices as high as $2.50.


At which time I rip all the FairPlay track I have into nonDRMed tracks and go back to P2P sharing. Screw the RIAA if they are going to continue this raping of the customer. :mad: I like iTMS as much as the next person but I'm not going to bend over for the RIAA. They can watch a renewal of P2P sharing if they dink around with current prices. Just when I thought the industry was starting to get their crap together this price increase thing pops up. Someone stop the insanity and let Apple do their thing without being hogtied by greedy ind execs.

[Craiger77]

Go to benjerry.com, take the oath to vote and get a free itunes song. I just did it at 11PM Mountain time and think I got one free song, but it is a bit ambiguous. It says in big letters: "You have qualfied for a free music download from iTunes." which implies I am one of the first 50,000 to get a free song, but if you read under that is says: "If you are one of the first 50,000 valid entrants, you will receive an email with instructions on how to claim your music download in the next 24-48 hours." I guess I just have to wait a day or two and see. I know this was supposed to start on the 27th, but if they go by Eastern time I guess it started at midnight there. I signed up my wife too...a bit of dishonesty there given she is Japanese and can't vote here :)

[Trowaman]

I am not seeing any updates today on iTMS. Could this mean version 5, 4.5, or 4.3 will hit the world on Wed?

[macnews]

Just the other day a bunch of Apple execs cashed in stock options (can't blame them) many in the 10-20 million range. Perhaps Steve gave them a kick in the *ss and told them to sell shares, go home and buy iTMS songs. If they just spent a quarter of their value, that should help crack the 100 mill level.

I also hope the labels get their acts together and decide not to raise prices. My only question would be is this an across the board increase? In other words, will Walmart and all the other online services raise their prices as well? Interesting because Walmart normally can demand lower prices due to volume sold, but how could they do that with online downloads? There is no way Walmart has sold more songs than iTMS, or will even come close. It will also be interesting to see if there is a price increase what Sony will charge. Would be bad, possibly illegal, if they charge Apple $1.50 for what they sell at $0.99.

[Foocha]

Just the other day a bunch of Apple execs cashed in stock options (can't blame them) many in the 10-20 million range.

This might indicate that the conference call will be delivering bad news - or then maybe I'm just too cynical ;)

[rspress]

I'm not trying to be a smartass, but....

Where are all of you even getting ogg?

Why would the Apple want Microsoft on the iPod?

rspress make own ogg. Me use plug-in for Quicktime.

Actually with the ogg plug-in and and the hack from macaddict itunes can now handle ogg files. Apple included icons for ogg and wma in iTunes so there must have been some thought on using them. Since ogg is open source it would cost nothing for Apple to support this format but it provides no DRMS. As far as WMA it is a windows world out there and at some point someone will come out with an MP3 player that will give Apple a run for the money. When that happens the one that supports more formats will win.

I think the WMA codec sucks big time and I never use it....even on my windows box but plenty of windows users do and other online music stores do as well. Right now Apple has the luxury of not using it but that will change some day.

[rspress]

>J-Squire Try using the shopping cart. You can add a song to your shopping >cart as you browse, but this does not confirm the purchase. You can then >go research it or whatever you plan on doing, and return to buy it.

True the shopping cart is a work around but adding bookmark support would be better and allow sharing of links to songs with other users.

> Almost all tracks are .99c. HOWEVER, some tracks that exceed a certain >length of time (I think 7:00) are priced higher, but I think that is a valid >reason.

I also have no problem with longer songs being priced more than .99 cents. However some longer songs are not even purchasable unless you but the who CD. Most of the above .99 cent songs are those that are recent releases by "popular" performers.


>I am hopefull for 85-90m on April 28th.
>Does anyone know if this call will be streamed over quicktime on the >Apple Site?
>Also, my prediction for announcements is that this might be a good time >for iTunes 5? Not a big enough event for a major product, but enough >attention to announce new software

I too would like to know if this event will be streamed...I have found nothing that says it will be, but I sure would like to hear it!

[TylerL]

For the record, assuming a global average of 4 minutes per song, the iTMS has 3.805 years of music available for download.

[stoid]

For the record, assuming a global average of 4 minutes per song, the iTMS has 3.805 years of music available for download.

WOW! :eek: I have about 3.805 days of aural enjoyment in my iTunes library

[rspress]

WOW! :eek: I have about 3.805 days of aural enjoyment in my iTunes library

I have fifteen days of music. Of course I have only 10 minutes of good songs ;-)

[Wonder Boy]

other stuff is welcomed, but ill be disapointed if there isnt a ipod software update. 2.2 or something.

[MCCFR]

Sad as it may seem, I have an Excel spreadsheet with all of the milestone announcement data for iTMS loaded, and using two different models for predicting where we'd be on Wednesday returned a number between 70.0 and 70.1m excluding Pepsi promo.

<-snip->


Ah, it feels good to be a prophet.

;)

[wrldwzrd89]

other stuff is welcomed, but ill be disapointed if there isnt a ipod software update. 2.2 or something.
I don't know if any of you have checked the other threads, but iTunes 4.5, QuickTime 6.5.1, and new iPod software were released.