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Great idea but..

I think this is a wonderful idea but I hope they don't choose such obvious artists in the future. It would be really great if they selected songs from new and upcoming artists such as The Real Tuesday Weld, because its these guys who really NEED the exposure and its less likely that us music buffs will have the album on our computer already.
 
I think it's a great idea for the artists to get publicity. Worked for me, too. I listened to this Foo Fighters and liked it, so I'm off to get more of their songs.

And BTW, does such a newsletter from Apple exist? There's no link on the site as far as I can see.
 
NVM, I found the link. It's on apple.com/itunes/download. When you download from the site, it asks for your email addresses and asks you to subscribe to the newsletters. Before, there was only Apple eNews and the Quicktime, but there is now a third one, the free music newsletter.

Does anybody know of any other place to subscribe (for those people who downloaded from Software Update?
 
sharky2313 said:
It's like the free samples at Costco. You know you try stuff that you would normally never buy. ;)

Or in the case of me, you take the free stuff and dont buy what you have to pay for :)
 
I've got a WAY better promo for iTunes...

Because one free song is so unlikely to hit a broad enough taste to please everyone...

how about - every 50th song you download is free?? Cool, huh? I don't think it's that unrealistic cost-wise for Apple to consider.

It goes a step further than just getting people to visit more often... it would actually drive people to download more often, an album at a time if they want to get to that 50th song quickly.

And, it's a much better incentive for the 95% of people who don't care for Foo Fighters, because you're getting a song YOU CHOOSE for free, not one chosen for you.

Whadda ya think? :)
 
Thank you, Apple! I wouldn't have downloaded Foo Fighters on my own, but after getting this song, I'm going to listen to previews of their other songs and possibly download the CD. Other artists from this week sound good to me, too. Free samples are always nice! :)

And I told my sister about this and she really liked the idea, so she'll probably be going to the iTunes store more often now...
 
macnews said:
one free song - by Justin Timberlake a week, yea haw!

There are actually some quality artists listed there: Foo Fighters, Janes Adiction, Courtney Love.

The thing is, the music store must be getting hit HARD right now due to the free singles; I keep getting an error when downloading. I hope it clears out soon, as I've only got 9 minutes left before the Foo Fighters' single is no longer offered. (I think.)
 
Armsreach said:
Uhm, excuse me, the last time I checked, Renee Fleming was an Opera singer. Since when is Opera NOT classical.

Opera and Classical are two seperate and very different genres; think Mozart vs. Luciano Pavarotti.

However to some degree, I agree that certain opera pieces can be lumped together with classical, such as Turandot's Nessun Dorma.
 
Hmmm. Downloaded and installed iTunes 4.5 and the iPod update. Everything seemed to work fine until I came back and re-docked my iPod...it immediately crashed the finder. Joy! :mad:

I tried force quitting the finder...no go. Had to do a hard reboot. :mad:

Edit: My system wouldn't reboot with the iPod in its dock. I had to disconnect it so the splash screen would get past "Waiting for local disks" :mad:
 
itsa said:
Would not even come close to downloading any of them.

good; that means there'll be a little less traffic for everyone else who wants to. :D

Maybe in future weeks, they'll have more variety and there'll be something you like.

I also had some trouble connecting to the store and downloading the song, but it's always hard to tell if it's my worthless ISP or a problem with whatever site I'm trying to visit.
 
finally got it downloaded (over the modem!! ugh)

Except for the Pepsi giveaway, is this the first time that Apple is giving away free songs from the iTMS? I can't remember any other promotions like this, but I'm just curious.
 
crazytom said:
Hmmm. Downloaded and installed iTunes 4.5 and the iPod update. Everything seemed to work fine until I came back and re-docked my iPod...it immediately crashed the finder. Joy!

I heard downloading and installing quicktime 6.5.1 fixes this. This is through the grapevine so you'll have to check it out to see.
 
Sigh... I think I missed it. I was in class all day, and now that I'm trying to download the Foo Fighters song, even though it still says it's free, it says I cannot download it as it is "being updated." Curses, I really like that song.

Edit: Also, the "free" Avril song is still listed at 99 cents. That's why you paid for it. :\ FF is still listed at 0, but won't let me download. Sigh...
 
Mercury said:
Edit: Also, the "free" Avril song is still listed at 99 cents. That's why you paid for it. :\ FF is still listed at 0, but won't let me download. Sigh...

Ahhh... damn it. I just figured that it showed the regular price so you'd know that Apple is "giving" you a dollar! When I tried to get the Foo Fighters song earlier, I was never even able to connect. Oh well, the Avril song was still free, paid for by a Pepsi lid from the workplace recycle bin.
 
iTunes 4.5 is filled with brilliant marketing moves.

Like or hate the particular free songs that are being given away each week, this is a BRILLIANT move by Apple, along with many other of the additions to iTunes 4.5.

I think artists, particularly small label artists will be screaming for a chance to be the free single download of the week. This is fantastic, direct-to-consumer publicity for the artist and it builds a relationship between Apple and it's consumers to keep them coming back.

The addition of movie trailers, music videos, and especially iMixes is also pure brilliance. These kinds of connections that Apple has, and the trust they are garnering with the movie and music industry are not being replicated ANYWHERE else. This makes iTunes THE app to have for downloading music. Not to mention paving the way for consumer brand trust in the "digital lifestyle" market. Can't wait to see what follows the iPod.

I'm sure noone pays for the free songs, it's just a contract signed between the artist and Apple for a one day giveaway. After all, a digital song doesn't really cost anything in and of itself - advertisement, however costs a fortune andd the artist is getting a free day of top-shelf advertisement for nothing.

Joe
 
Good marketing strategy and a good product to back it up, iTunes is the way to go - just like Steve Jobs has been telling naysayers all along.
 
iTMS on WInXP

I downloaded the iTunes 4.5 update last night on Dial-Up... that only took about 2 hours. Heh. Then before I went to bed I cued up the free Foo Fighters song. This morning I went to play it and iTunes said it wasn't authorized to play on this particular computer.. I think I just hit "OK" and it went away and played fine. Hmmm...

The new iTMS seems to work fine on my Compaq Presario 5000 w/ WinXP. Why am I using my awful Compaq? Cuz my iBook is getting it's Logic Board replaced :(
 
I wasn't able to get the free song yesterday. I went to the iTMS and clicked on the free song, but it took me to the pay area. Does anynone know how the porgram works?
 
score. . . i just hope they dont have bad songs every week, otherwise this could be good for only the sheep of the music industry.
 
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