iTunes Conference Call Transcript

MacRumors · May 4, 2004, 07:24 AM

MacObserver has posted a transcript of the April 28th iTunes Conference Call.

The call marked the 1st anniversary for the iTunes Music Store and was hosted by Steve Jobs.

Jobs provides performance numbers for iTunes first year as a music store. Total number of songs available from iTunes now exceeds 700,000 songs across the 5 major labels and over 450 independent labels. Jobs also covers the new features available in iTunes 4.5, which was also released that day.

The question and answer session provides some additional insight into iTunes pricing, burning rights, subscription services and more.

dukemeiser · May 4, 2004, 08:33 AM

I'm glad he cleared up the 99¢ song rumors. Nobody wanted to pay $2.50 for a song.

CrackedButter · 08:36 AM

WOW!

Steve does pay attention doesn't he to the demands of others, he knows about ogg vorbis and he also knows nobody who has even contacted Apple requesting it. That'll shut the geeks up on slashdot!

Plus he rips into the Cnet guy, knowing that Cnet normally do the mocking over Apple and its supposed failures.

Ina Fried: Hi, Steve. Thanks for taking the question. I guess kind of one of the things I'm curious on as what you see as kind of the next inhibitors or the next hurdles to broaden the market for purchase download music. I mean, you guys set a goal of 100 million and it seems like you may have not quite reached that, not because Apple got, you know, pushed out by competition. You guys have dominant market share, but because the market just didn't grow that...as fast. And I'm curious what some of the things are that you guys see as limits to why people don't download music.

Steve Jobs: Well, you know, we think the market is growing really fast. Zero to 70 million in one year, you know, if a year ago anyone had predicted that iTunes would sell 70 million songs during its first year, they would have been laughed out of town. Right? Don't you think? As a matter of fact, you guys would have done a lot of laughing at that.

Steve is just damn ruthless in his answers, even when the guy asked about how much Apple made, his response was well times 70 million by $.99 with a taint of sarcasism.

I'll glad he is on our side, he certainly knows his stuff, not to be messed with!

Trimix · May 4, 2004, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrackedButter

WOW!

[i]Ina Fried: Hi, Steve. Thanks for taking the question. I guess kind of one of the things I'm curious on as what you see as kind of the next inhibitors or the next hurdles to broaden the market for purchase download music. I mean, you guys set a goal of 100 million and it seems like you may have not quite reached that, not because Apple got, you know, pushed out by competition. You guys have dominant market share, but because the market just didn't grow that...as fast. And I'm curious what some of the things are that you guys see as limits to why people don't download music.

Oh my gawd, can you imagine running APPLE and then having to answer moronic questions like that ? In school we used to beat up the kid that asked questions that were pointless... Ina Fried has not been beaten up enough - who in his right mind is employing such a person ?

greg75 · May 4, 2004, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrackedButter

Steve does pay attention doesn't he to the demands of others, he knows about ogg vorbis and he also knows nobody who has even contacted Apple requesting it. That'll shut the geeks up on slashdot!

There are people who have requested it using Apple's feedback form. What Steve meant is that nobody he gives a f. about has requested it. Makes Microsoftesque business sense though. There's just no vendor lock in with open formats. Which is why Apple developed yet another proprietary lossless format instead of going with FLAC.

Little Endian · May 4, 2004, 09:11 AM

Posted by Crackedbutter
(Steve does pay attention doesn't he to the demands of others, he knows about ogg vorbis and he also knows nobody who has even contacted Apple requesting it. That'll shut the geeks up on slashdot!)

Umm..... there have been many thread's in Apple's own support forum that requested Ogg Vorbis. There were almost a thousand people who also started a petition on Apple's own forum who requested Ogg Vorbis which I myself supported.

AhmedFaisal · May 4, 2004, 09:16 AM

Its good to read that Apple is in fact talking to manufacturers of livingroom devices for audio, so there is some hope that Roku or some other streaming media player for the home stereo system will receive support for fairplay.
As for Ogg Vorbis, while the iPod has no support for it, iTunes & Quicktime in fact do, there is a very well working 3rd party codec out there.
Regards,

Ahmed

CrackedButter · May 4, 2004, 09:48 AM

Ah well my bad.

zedwards · May 4, 2004, 09:49 AM

So while MacMinute has a story on OS X 10.4 "Tiger", MacRumors has news from last week! I thought rumors were supposed to happen and then the actual news of the rumors, then the actual said rumor happening or not?

ryanw · May 4, 2004, 10:22 AM

I was all excited to convert lots of my stuff to apple lossless compression. I tried it on a few of my aif files just to find out that my iPod (pre dock connector) does not support the lossless files even with the latest updates and stuff.

Rower_CPU · May 4, 2004, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zedwards

So while MacMinute has a story on OS X 10.4 "Tiger", MacRumors has news from last week! I thought rumors were supposed to happen and then the actual news of the rumors, then the actual said rumor happening or not?

MR has had numerous stories on 10.4 - maybe it's MacMinute that's behind the times.

This is simply an update to the conference call story from last week now that the full transcript has been made available.

dontmatter · May 4, 2004, 12:48 PM

450 indie labels. Nice. How many songs from them? Lets hope this grows signifigantly as the store grows.

themadchemist · May 4, 2004, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zedwards

So while MacMinute has a story on OS X 10.4 "Tiger", MacRumors has news from last week! I thought rumors were supposed to happen and then the actual news of the rumors, then the actual said rumor happening or not?

Ok, here's one. iTMS is going to have a gagillion new songs by next Tuesday! w00t!

Baseless rumors, aside, I like reading actual news every now and again.

JGowan · May 5, 2004, 12:02 AM

I thought it was hilarious that the last questioner said "you know" 3 times in her paragraph and Steve threw a "you know" back at her in his very next sentence. I wish I could have heard the STEVE SARCASM on that one. He can be RUTHLESS when he is answering dumb questions. I love it!

advocate · May 5, 2004, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg75

There's just no vendor lock in with open formats. Which is why Apple developed yet another proprietary lossless format instead of going with FLAC.

How can a codec library with a BSD license cause vendor lock-in? http://flac.sf.net/

greg75 · May 5, 2004, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by advocate

How can a codec library with a BSD license cause vendor lock-in? http://flac.sf.net/

I didn't say it could, but since you're asking: The BSD license doesn't prevent embrace and extend.

Not that it's of any relevance since Apple ISN'T using FLAC.

visor · May 6, 2004, 01:52 PM

i mean the ipos doesnt lack much to be a good refrigerator.
it's got a large storage capacity, and it's cool.

May 4, 2004, 07:24 AM	#1
MacRumors macrumors bot Join Date: Apr 2001	iTunes Conference Call Transcript MacObserver has posted a transcript of the April 28th iTunes Conference Call. The call marked the 1st anniversary for the iTunes Music Store and was hosted by Steve Jobs. Jobs provides performance numbers for iTunes first year as a music store. Total number of songs available from iTunes now exceeds 700,000 songs across the 5 major labels and over 450 independent labels. Jobs also covers the new features available in iTunes 4.5, which was also released that day. The question and answer session provides some additional insight into iTunes pricing, burning rights, subscription services and more.

May 4, 2004, 08:34 AM	#3
CrackedButter macrumors 68030 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: 51st State of America	WOW! Steve does pay attention doesn't he to the demands of others, he knows about ogg vorbis and he also knows nobody who has even contacted Apple requesting it. That'll shut the geeks up on slashdot! Plus he rips into the Cnet guy, knowing that Cnet normally do the mocking over Apple and its supposed failures. Ina Fried: Hi, Steve. Thanks for taking the question. I guess kind of one of the things I'm curious on as what you see as kind of the next inhibitors or the next hurdles to broaden the market for purchase download music. I mean, you guys set a goal of 100 million and it seems like you may have not quite reached that, not because Apple got, you know, pushed out by competition. You guys have dominant market share, but because the market just didn't grow that...as fast. And I'm curious what some of the things are that you guys see as limits to why people don't download music. Steve Jobs: Well, you know, we think the market is growing really fast. Zero to 70 million in one year, you know, if a year ago anyone had predicted that iTunes would sell 70 million songs during its first year, they would have been laughed out of town. Right? Don't you think? As a matter of fact, you guys would have done a lot of laughing at that. Steve is just damn ruthless in his answers, even when the guy asked about how much Apple made, his response was well times 70 million by $.99 with a taint of sarcasism. I'll glad he is on our side, he certainly knows his stuff, not to be messed with! __________________ "Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own" - Bruce Lee http://jonathanjk.viewbook.com/ Last edited by CrackedButter : May 4, 2004 at 08:36 AM.

May 4, 2004, 09:16 AM	#7
AhmedFaisal macrumors 6502 Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Somewhere in Germany	Living room devices & there is a 3rd party Ogg Vorbis codec Its good to read that Apple is in fact talking to manufacturers of livingroom devices for audio, so there is some hope that Roku or some other streaming media player for the home stereo system will receive support for fairplay. As for Ogg Vorbis, while the iPod has no support for it, iTunes & Quicktime in fact do, there is a very well working 3rd party codec out there. Regards, Ahmed

May 4, 2004, 09:48 AM	#8
CrackedButter macrumors 68030 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: 51st State of America	Ah well my bad. __________________ "Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own" - Bruce Lee http://jonathanjk.viewbook.com/

May 4, 2004, 09:49 AM	#9
zedwards macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: France	How timely So while MacMinute has a story on OS X 10.4 "Tiger", MacRumors has news from last week! I thought rumors were supposed to happen and then the actual news of the rumors, then the actual said rumor happening or not?

May 4, 2004, 08:33 AM	#2
dukemeiser macrumors 6502a Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Iowa	I'm glad he cleared up the 99¢ song rumors. Nobody wanted to pay $2.50 for a song.

May 4, 2004, 09:11 AM	#6
Little Endian macrumors 6502 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Honolulu	Posted by Crackedbutter (Steve does pay attention doesn't he to the demands of others, he knows about ogg vorbis and he also knows nobody who has even contacted Apple requesting it. That'll shut the geeks up on slashdot!) Umm..... there have been many thread's in Apple's own support forum that requested Ogg Vorbis. There were almost a thousand people who also started a petition on Apple's own forum who requested Ogg Vorbis which I myself supported.

May 4, 2004, 10:22 AM	#10
ryanw macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2003	Apple LossLess Compression I was all excited to convert lots of my stuff to apple lossless compression. I tried it on a few of my aif files just to find out that my iPod (pre dock connector) does not support the lossless files even with the latest updates and stuff.

May 4, 2004, 12:48 PM	#12
dontmatter macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: SEATTLE, BABY! (or a nice little liberal arts college campus in the middle of nowhere...)	450 indie labels. Nice. How many songs from them? Lets hope this grows signifigantly as the store grows. __________________ Insert witticism here. Or spelling correction.

May 5, 2004, 12:02 AM	#14
JGowan macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2003	YOU KNOW I thought it was hilarious that the last questioner said "you know" 3 times in her paragraph and Steve threw a "you know" back at her in his very next sentence. I wish I could have heard the STEVE SARCASM on that one. He can be RUTHLESS when he is answering dumb questions. I love it!

May 6, 2004, 01:52 PM	#17
visor macrumors 6502 Join Date: May 2003 Location: in bed	i like the refrigerator part i mean the ipos doesnt lack much to be a good refrigerator. it's got a large storage capacity, and it's cool. __________________ If I don't find any bugs to bitch about - I was bought, or you have a truly superior product. More superior products at -> kuessner.org

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