Apple Announces 25 Billion Songs Sold in iTunes Music Store

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced that the iTunes Store has reached a new milestone, passing 25 billion songs downloaded. Interestingly, Apple also announced that it has awarded a EUR10,000 iTunes Gift Card to the user who downloaded the milestone song even though the company did not run a high-profile promotion for the contest as it has for past music and app milestones.

The 25 billionth song, "Monkey Drums" (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch, was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany. As the downloader of the 25 billionth song, Phillip will receive a EUR10,000 iTunes® Gift Card.

"We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible."

Apple notes that the iTunes Store now offers over 26 million songs and is available in 119 countries after December's expansion to 56 new countries.

Article Link: Apple Announces 25 Billion Songs Sold in iTunes Music Store

[kirky29]

Since using Spotify, I haven't bought music from iTunes in ages... maybe not even one song in the last year.. Still an impressive number though!

[charlieegan3]

Originally Posted by kirky29

Since using Spotify, I haven't bought music from iTunes in ages... maybe not even one song in the last year.. Still an impressive number though!

I was thinking I'd never have to buy a song on iTunes again but then there was this:

[Peace]

Whatever happened to the contests ?

[charlituna]

Originally Posted by Peace

Whatever happened to the contests ?

Clearly they didn't feel that they needed some published contest to get folks to download music. After all, they got to this level without it.

Apps, books and perhaps movies/TV shows might need that kind of push. But not music

[Imory]

Originally Posted by charlieegan3

I was thinking I'd never have to buy a song on iTunes again but then there was this:

Hmm, that's strange. Got any ideas of why they removed the ability to purchase songs?

[ihateilove]

Yeah, that's 25 billion reasons why Apple is finished as a company (not). Reading this article today amused me, with that in mind. Why Apple is doomed (also not)

[charlieegan3]

Originally Posted by Imory

Hmm, that's strange. Got any ideas of why they removed the ability to purchase songs?

Something about improving the service - worried it will be too different though, and end up costing more.

----------

Originally Posted by FSMBP

Or you know, there are free apps as opposed to paying per song.

Another reason - true.

[JarScott]

Originally Posted by kirky29

Since using Spotify, I haven't bought music from iTunes in ages... maybe not even one song in the last year.. Still an impressive number though!

I used to pay for Spotify but I soon realised I wasn't using £10 worth of songs each month to make it worth paying for. So I now only buy songs from iTunes/Amazon MP3 which I know I will listen to a lot.

[AustinIllini]

Originally Posted by kirky29

Since using Spotify, I haven't bought music from iTunes in ages... maybe not even one song in the last year.. Still an impressive number though!

Originally Posted by charlieegan3

I was thinking I'd never have to buy a song on iTunes again but then there was this:

There is a boatload of great music you can't get on Spotify. I don't do a ton of purchasing, but it most certainly has its place.

[r2shyyou]

Originally Posted by charlituna

Clearly they didn't feel that they needed some published contest to get folks to download music. After all, they got to this level without it.

Apps, books and perhaps movies/TV shows might need that kind of push. But not music

Totally!...except for when they did have contests for music, as this article points out:

Originally Posted by MacRumors

...even though the company did not run a high-profile promotion for the contest as it has for past music and app milestones.

1 Billion Song Contest: http://www.macrumors.com/2006/02/07/...-song-contest/
10 Billion Song Contest: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/11/...ngs-promotion/

[Fresh Pie]

Would somebody mind posting a short narrative speculating about how Apple's executives decided to release this story?

Edit: ouimetnick already addressed this

[nburwell]

Originally Posted by kirky29

Since using Spotify, I haven't bought music from iTunes in ages... maybe not even one song in the last year.. Still an impressive number though!

While I haven't entirely stopped purchasing music from iTunes since I started my subscription with Rdio, I have noticed that I purchased less music from iTunes/Amazon because of it.

But nonetheless, still impressive.

[bobr1952]

Originally Posted by kirky29

Since using Spotify, I haven't bought music from iTunes in ages... maybe not even one song in the last year.. Still an impressive number though!

I use MOG and for the most part do the same--especially when it comes to iTunes. But since I don't own the music and with MOG, I would have to download all the music if I had to restore my phone--I like to save music--I do look pretty much every day on Amazon to see what is on sale. I still like to own music and have it to keep permanently--so I look for their $5 and under specials and do buy those that I want. Once in awhile I'll get something from iTunes but they don't usually have many good deals.

I'm glad iTunes is doing well though and glad that just about every major recording act is now in the iTunes store.

[iMacFarlane]

I've only bought a handful of songs / albums from iTunes. I really like buying from Amazon's digital store because:
-MP3 (no DRM)
-Frequent sales.

The last few albums I bought were $5.99, for good, modern stuff. Nice.

[samcraig]

They had to go with 25 Billion and 1. Apparently that 25B was downloaded by Lennay Kekua but they caught that error JUST in time.

[Dreamer2go]

Originally Posted by iMacFarlane

I've only bought a handful of songs / albums from iTunes. I really like buying from Amazon's digital store because:
-MP3 (no DRM)
-Frequent sales.

The last few albums I bought were $5.99, for good, modern stuff. Nice.

mp3s? what's wrong with AAC (.m4a)

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by iMacFarlane

I've only bought a handful of songs / albums from iTunes. I really like buying from Amazon's digital store because:
-MP3 (no DRM)
-Frequent sales.

The last few albums I bought were $5.99, for good, modern stuff. Nice.

Buying from Amazon because of DRM free mp3 format is stupid, when you can buy higher quality DRM free AAC format from the iTunes store.

And at least in the UK, anyone who is a bit organised has a permanent iTunes sale, because you can always find some store selling £25 iTunes gift cards for £20. That's 20 percent off everything.

[thenaes]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

Buying from Amazon because of DRM free mp3 format is stupid, when you can buy higher quality DRM free AAC format from the iTunes store.

And at least in the UK, anyone who is a bit organised has a permanent iTunes sale, because you can always find some store selling £25 iTunes gift cards for £20. That's 20 percent off everything.

I really hate when people say that MP3 is worse quality than AAC. At high bitrates (256+) you really cannot tell the difference when listening to a MP3 vs AAC file.

Even with iTunes GC sales, iTunes music is still quite a bit more expensive. Amazon MP3 is great.

[iMacFarlane]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

Buying from Amazon because of DRM free mp3 format is stupid, when you can buy higher quality DRM free AAC format from the iTunes store.

And at least in the UK, anyone who is a bit organised has a permanent iTunes sale, because you can always find some store selling £25 iTunes gift cards for £20. That's 20 percent off everything.

1. Thanks for calling me stupid and unorganised
2. Example: I bought "Once" by Nightwish. Amazon had it for $5.99. iTunes listed it for $9.99. 40% off beats 20% off, right? Or is that just me being stupid again?

----------

Originally Posted by Dreamer2go

mp3s? what's wrong with AAC (.m4a)

Nothing.

What's wrong with the milk at the gas station? Nothing, but I'd rather go to the grocery store and pay a lot less for the same thing.

[kjs862]

What was the name of that record\music store that went out of business?

[iMacFarlane]

Originally Posted by kjs862

What was the name of that record\music store that went out of business?

Record Town?
Catz Music?
Tower Records?
Napster?
Blockbuster?
Woolworth's?

[iBreatheApple]

Although music is available for free via many online sources, I think that with the shutdown of Limewire people just find it so much easier to just purchase their music. That's how I feel anyway. It's too much work to download music, sort it, find the album artwork, and fill in all the other data I'm OCD about. Plus the addition of iCloud sealed the deal for me. I often find myself frustrated that I don't have that sense of "automatic backup" with mixtapes or songs I download from Soundcloud that the producer or artist releases for free. My best solution is to put a "downloaded" comment in songs I don't purchase so I can sort by comments and back just those songs up.

[Jonathan D]

Gotta love how this is the next story in the MacRumors feed after the new rumor of the Mac Pro earlier today:

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/02/06/...n-spring-2013/

"We're developing a new product for our pro-users TBA 2013... but in the meantime you can listen to Gangham Style on all of your iToys at once!"

[TheKnowledgeGuy]

for the curious, the base rounding and conversion of 10,000 euros to dollars is $13,525.