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Checked out the songs nearly every week and bought quite a few additional songs because of them over the years. Too bad they stopped.
 
Just a sign of things changing in how we listen to music.

This was never about giving people gifts, it was a marketing tactic to push sales. If it wasn't paying its way then it gets the axe.
 
They're saving up to release the iPhone 6S next september with 32GB standard, at 599 euro/dollar, to haul in android-users. :apple:
 
Makes sense to drop it. iTunes Radio provides the same type of exploratory function with greater depth.
 
i think the daniel powder hit, bad day was the best ever free single.

any other ones that became hits?

Mmm, too many to list. Not like huge hits like that, but you know lots of airplay in different territories. I was always happy when I would hear a song on BBC Radio and find it free on iTunes a few weeks later.

I remember my mom laughing at me for liking a John Legend song I got for free back when Get Lifted debuted.
 
Apple is so damn greedy. It would be nice if they appreciated their customers.

I don't know if it's greed as much as licensing conditions. Still, I must admit that the Google Play store is often $5-$10 cheaper on TV seasons.
 
No loss- the free ones were pants anyway! If you gotta use a free single as an excuse to visit the iTunes Store then, well, enough said!
 
Really too bad. I really enjoyed seeing what the 'Single of the Week' was.
Yes, some of them were not that great, but I have actually discovered lots of great artists through it. Bad decision, in my view.
 
Getting to listen to a whole song for free used to be a novelty. It's not anymore with Spotify, Beats, etc.
 
I used to download the free songs, but after a while realized that I almost never liked the songs, rated them as 1 star and lost them in my library.

The negative rating is perhaps part of the problem. It's a promotional gift that Apple used to lure people into the Store and occasionally introduce barely known artists. I've found two artists that I still listen to that way. Why would you leave one star for something that obviously doesn't match your taste and you probably would not have bought anyway? It almost discredits the artists.

I think the concept, along with 12 Days, is just not as beneficial anymore as it used to be. People will just download the stuff and don't pay for anything else, then even complain about it in the comments. Which artist/developer wants to be associated with this?
 
i think the daniel powder hit, bad day was the best ever free single.

any other ones that became hits?

The Band Perry's If I Die Young was free in 2010 according to the get info in my library and hit big in 2012. I may be wrong but I'm thinking the free single has gone missing for a couple weeks or more in the past so they may be back. I haven't chec iBooks yet this morning but for the past few weeks there hasn't been a particular free book but they have had free "series starters".
 
Apple is so damn greedy. It would be nice if they appreciated their customers.

Non-hardware examples;

No 12 days of Christmas. Not a huge deal but no real explanation behind it.

iTunes prices are ridiculous. Yes, they do sales occasionally. But I don't need all the Harry Potter movies for $55. I would like to see some older movies for less than $14.99 occasionally. Perhaps a price more competitive with Blu-Rays or Amazon.

$3.99 and $4.99 to rent a movie? For 24 hours? C'mon. That's ridiculous when there is a Redbox in every McDonalds in the US.

I really wanted to own a copy of The Prestige. I figured iTunes was an easy choice. Until the movie was $17.99. It's $9.99 on Blu-Ray.

I understand there is no need to push product since these files are not taking up any real estate but a sale or competitive prices would be nice.

We're all in the ecosystem, just throw us a bone with some incentives and real sales.

This is coming on the heals of an unfortunate incident last night in which I was unable to stream Capt America on my Apple TV (a movie I purchased on iTunes), but the Netflix app on my Apple TV worked fine. I just remember when it felt like Apple cared about their few customers instead of ripping off all of their customers.

/end rant

While I agree that their prices are higher, I have not heard that they started forcing people to buy their products nor prevented anybody from buying from anywhere else they feel it's cheaper.

This is a business to them and giving away free stuff here and there is already considered customer appreciation.

I wouldn't mind getting free iPhones or iMacs from them, though :p
 
Apple is finalizing deals for streaming music and Beats. Meanwhile the record labels are telling them to lose the free single promotion or they won't play ball. That's all this is. Apple doesn't care but it's surprising the record labels do care about 1 lousy free single.

----------

It wasn't the free content that bothered people it was that it was forced upon them.

It wasn't forced upon them. That would imply resistance and no one knew about this until after the fact. it was snuck in kind of like the way updates are now snuck into OS X.
 
The U2 free song was my one and old experience with free songs... Never again. Then Tim felt the need to go and automatically put it on my iphone. Thanks.
 
All about their margins, it was hurting their bottom line. :rollseyes:

Exactly because 48 free songs per YEAR is sorely going to hurt their margins. :roll eyes:

I for one am perfectly fine they ended this anyway. I only got 5 free songs over the years because most of them sucked, IMO. And about the person quoted in the article saying they needed a free song to get them to browse the iTunes store? Give me a fricken break! You were never gonna buy anything in the first place if you need to be baited in by a free song.
 
I downloaded a few of the singles back in 2004 and 2005. I never listened to them beyond the first listen though. I never downloaded anymore because I usually wasn't interested. I also don't like bands and songs that I hardly even remember showing up in my purchased list when browsing my library. Once I forgot I had even downloaded them, saw them in my library, and thought someone else had used my account to download them.
 
Apple is so damn greedy. It would be nice if they appreciated their customers.

Non-hardware examples;

No 12 days of Christmas. Not a huge deal but no real explanation behind it.

iTunes prices are ridiculous. Yes, they do sales occasionally. But I don't need all the Harry Potter movies for $55. I would like to see some older movies for less than $14.99 occasionally. Perhaps a price more competitive with Blu-Rays or Amazon.

$3.99 and $4.99 to rent a movie? For 24 hours? C'mon. That's ridiculous when there is a Redbox in every McDonalds in the US.

I really wanted to own a copy of The Prestige. I figured iTunes was an easy choice. Until the movie was $17.99. It's $9.99 on Blu-Ray.

I understand there is no need to push product since these files are not taking up any real estate but a sale or competitive prices would be nice.

We're all in the ecosystem, just throw us a bone with some incentives and real sales.

This is coming on the heals of an unfortunate incident last night in which I was unable to stream Capt America on my Apple TV (a movie I purchased on iTunes), but the Netflix app on my Apple TV worked fine. I just remember when it felt like Apple cared about their few customers instead of ripping off all of their customers.

/end rant


I agree that movie rentals are outrageous. So are some of the prices of movies. I personally shop in the $5 or $10 movie categories and find good deals there.

It would be nice if Apple offered some deals occasionally for those who purchase through the iTunes store like I do and spend well over $500 a year.
 
this is Sad.

I loved going to the Free Songs of the Week and checking them out.
I used to Download everything, then became somewhat choosy.

Recently they had a Milky Chance song that was great.
I know of many others over the years that have been stellar songs...but I am into Alternative / Adult Alternative...NOT Pop Music.

I have actually made purchases because of the free songs. But now with iTunes Radio I can just listen and not buy any more from iTunes...so I suppose win for me and a loss for Apple.

I really like "having music" not just streaming but that's the push these days.
 
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