iTunes in Top 10 U.S. Music Retailers

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

An NPD Press release is making headlines around the Mac web.

According to The NPD Group, in Q3 2005, Apple's iTunes Music store made its way into the Top 10 list of U.S. retailers based on "equivalent number of units sold". (Number in parenthesis are 2004's Q3 position)

1. Wal-Mart (1)
2. Best Buy (2)
3. Target (3)
4. Amazon.com (4)
5. FYE (10)
6. Circuit City (Tied for 5)
7. Apple\iTunes (14)
8. Tower Records (Tied for 7)
9. Sam Goody (Tied for 5)
10. Borders (9)

NPD used 12 tracks per album in order to compare sales between physical CDs and individual tracks.

[Lacero]

Awesome. Long time it hasn't been already included. Next milestone target: surpassing Amazon.

Also link from zdnet:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5965314.html

[iDM]

I would have assumed that this was the case anyway, but it's nice to actually see it!

[dlastmango]

Walmart is cheapest arent they?... so if Apple inroduces variable pricing they will no longer be on the chart...

Just my 2 cents.

[BornAgainMac]

This means a lot of people still buy music the old fashion way.

[ibook30]

Hopefully this will give apple more juice when negotiating with the recording industry. (more apple juice!)

[SPUY767]

here's the gig folks. This is flawed data. People are counting every CD as the rough equivalent of 12 iTMS tracks. The reasons that this is borked are A) note every CD Has 12 Tracks, Lots have Less, B) The data counts CDs that people buy for only one Track as 12 Tracks, and C) It vcounts iTunes Purchased albums as the actual Number of Tracks instead of the Default 12. Granted, C is peobably just as well since just as many albums have more than 12 Tracks as Have less. With iTMS people have the option to skip those tracks therefore artificially deflating the iTunes Numbers. If there were some way to Track it, which there isn't, and it were possible to make an Apples to Apples comparison, no pun intended, Apple's rank would jump by 1 or 2 spots at least. Punching Out.

[bigandy]

nae bad, nae bad...

[AoWolf]

So this must include CD's sold too right? If thats pretty amazing.

[revjay]

This is a MacRumor how???

[guez]

iTunes is still much too flaky for my tastes. Album buying, for instance, has been down since at least yesterday (at least for me). You are not warned about the issue before you click on buy, but after. This produces a less than optimal buying experience: somewhat analagous to showing up at the register with a CD and being told by a Walmart clerk that they won't sell it to you.

Although I do use iTunes music store occasionally, I also have to confess to an unpleasant early experience, as well. My wife gave me a gift certificate two years ago. At the time, iTunes did not ask for confirmation before activating the gift certificate from an email. As a result, the $50 was inadvertantly added to my wife's account, not mine. Apple would not move the credit. Although I can still use the songs, this is the kind of thing that makes you think twice about Apple's DRM.

Finally, I know many of you out there are not sympathetic, but the iTunes Music Store/iPod gapless playback issue is still a barrier for many of us. It is aggravating to see videos added but this basic functionality still lacking.

I guess that what I am trying to say is that while iTunes may be the best thing out there, it still has a long way to go...

[killemall4130]

Originally Posted by guez

iTunes is still much too flaky for my tastes. Album buying, for instance, has been down since at least yesterday (at least for me). You are not warned about the issue before you click on buy, but after. This produces a less than optimal buying experience: somewhat analagous to showing up at the register with a CD and being told by a Walmart clerk that they won't sell it to you.

Although I do use iTunes music store occasionally, I also have to confess to an unpleasant early experience, as well. My wife gave me a gift certificate two years ago. At the time, iTunes did not ask for confirmation before activating the gift certificate from an email. As a result, the $50 was inadvertantly added to my wife's account, not mine. Apple would not move the credit. Although I can still use the songs, this is the kind of thing that makes you think twice about Apple's DRM.

Finally, I know many of you out there are not sympathetic, but the iTunes Music Store/iPod gapless playback issue is still a barrier for many of us. It is aggravating to see videos added but this basic functionality still lacking.

I guess that what I am trying to say is that while iTunes may be the best thing out there, it still has a long way to go...

agree with ^

and why buy ur tunes anyways, i dont get it?

[devilot]

Originally Posted by dlastmango

Walmart is cheapest arent they?... so if Apple inroduces variable pricing they will no longer be on the chart...

Just my 2 cents.

Apple's iTMS has a wide selection and I'm willing to bet that they have more songs/CDs (as well as less mainstream but still greatly loved artists) than Walmart carries.

[Josh396]

Originally Posted by revjay

This is a MacRumor how???

They're just keeping us up to date with how Apple is doing with the iTMS. I'm sure a lot of people here were glad to read it.

[Lacero]

Originally Posted by devilot

Apple's iTMS has a wide selection and I'm willing to bet that they have more songs/CDs (as well as less mainstream but still greatly loved artists) than Walmart carries.

Walmart and brick & mortar stores of their kind are dying because they only stock the most popular mainstream music. It gets expensive to store and display millions of songs. With something like iTMS, it follows the Amazon.com model of selling fewer songs from a much more diverse selection.

[Chaszmyr]

I would have expected Best Buy to be #1, Amazon to be #2, and Apple to be #3

[Uragon]

well, i guess this is bad for Apple, the record labels are reading this too... and definitely would want a share of it.....

[FireArse]

Originally Posted by revjay

This is a MacRumor how???

My extact thoughts.

[muffinman]

sweet. walmart your going down!

[IJ Reilly]

One of the top 10 music retailers. Just so we're clear. (The article headline wasn't.)

[Jschultz]

Originally Posted by killemall4130

agree with ^

and why buy ur tunes anyways, i dont get it?

Some of us actually support the artists, maybe?

And it gets hard to find some of what I want in 320kbps alot of times. Why not have CD quality and be done with it?

(note that I don't buy top 40 garbage, but rather Springsteen and other classic rock)

[SPUY767]

Originally Posted by killemall4130

agree with ^

and why buy ur tunes anyways, i dont get it?

As opposed to stealing them you theiving troll?

[mcarnes]

Originally Posted by Jschultz

note that I don't buy top 40 garbage, but rather Springsteen

Glory Days?

[rikers_mailbox]

Originally Posted by revjay

This is a MacRumor how???

Oh, please. Are we going to have this conversation again?

I'm sorry, but stop holding on to the view that MR is exclusively rumors. MR is here to facilitate discussion about Apple and Apple-related news (including rumors). Please just accept that and move on to something more productive for all of us.

[lifeboy001]

Originally Posted by SPUY767

here's the gig folks. This is flawed data. People are counting every CD as the rough equivalent of 12 iTMS tracks. The reasons that this is borked are A) note every CD Has 12 Tracks, Lots have Less, B) The data counts CDs that people buy for only one Track as 12 Tracks, and C) It vcounts iTunes Purchased albums as the actual Number of Tracks instead of the Default 12. Granted, C is peobably just as well since just as many albums have more than 12 Tracks as Have less. With iTMS people have the option to skip those tracks therefore artificially deflating the iTunes Numbers. If there were some way to Track it, which there isn't, and it were possible to make an Apples to Apples comparison, no pun intended, Apple's rank would jump by 1 or 2 spots at least. Punching Out.

Lots have more than 12 tracks too, you can't just use data that suits your argument. One of the biggest recent sellers was Kanye West's new CD which sported 23 tracks. I think anywhere between 10-12 is a valid average, and I'm sure they did the research to back it up.

Along those lines, we understand iTunes sells singles and regular retailers do not. It does not discount the results that have been posted by any means; this is merely a ranking of sales. Should we have to include price comparisons too? Borders regularly sells CD's in the $18 range while you can get them for $10 on iTunes. This however, was not the point of the article.