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iTunes 1 Billion Song Contest

I wish Napster would hold a contest...what do you think, first to a million? And we could watch the counter and everything...ah, that would be enjoyable. :D
 
Isn't it a little odd that the counter shown on the Apple home page and the iTunes Music Store home page is labeled "Billion Songs Countdown" even though the counter value is going up?
 
Doctor Q said:
Isn't it a little odd that the counter shown on the Apple home page and the iTunes Music Store home page is labeled "Billion Songs Countdown" even though the counter value is going up?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that kinda bugs me ;) Especially for Apple.
 
Apple's songs counter is broke! Here is a better one

To win an iPod or the Grand Prize for the billionth song, you must buy a song each time the counter turns 100,000. The problem is: you can't rely on Apple's counter. It doesn't display the real-time count, it makes a projection based on a snapshot of the sales data over a period of 5 minutes, and that projection is always underestimated so that the counter doesn't go up and down each time the new data is released. With their method, it always goes up - but it's not accurate.

The Apple counter also relies on a 100ms timer to keep running, but if your machine is blocked doing something (like dragging a scrollbar in your browser or whatever), it stops and loses count.

I quickly fixed that over the weekend. Here is my page:
http://www.billiontunescounter.com/

It ain't pretty but so far today, it works. That should bring you one step closer to the 10 iPods and the $10,000 gift certificate. Good luck!
 
Photobiker:

Really cool. I'm so impressed (and a little jealous of your cleverness)!!! Thanks for your work. If I win, I'll definately give you one of the iPods!

-alywa
 
Your counter is amazing BRILLANT

Anyway I have been trying to predict when the billion song will be downloaded for a year now. All guesses have under estimated itunes users and the most recent prediction is Thursday. I say earlier like Wednesday and mabey even Tuesday night late. I know that sounds early but traffic will increase dramatically asthe magic billion draws near. So let me hear your prediction. Winner gets a cookie.
 
photobiker said:
To win an iPod or the Grand Prize for the billionth song, you must buy a song each time the counter turns 100,000. The problem is: you can't rely on Apple's counter. It doesn't display the real-time count, it makes a projection based on a snapshot of the sales data over a period of 5 minutes, and that projection is always underestimated so that the counter doesn't go up and down each time the new data is released. With their method, it always goes up - but it's not accurate.

The Apple counter also relies on a 100ms timer to keep running, but if your machine is blocked doing something (like dragging a scrollbar in your browser or whatever), it stops and loses count.

I quickly fixed that over the weekend. Here is my page:
http://www.billiontunescounter.com/

It ain't pretty but so far today, it works. That should bring you one step closer to the 10 iPods and the $10,000 gift certificate. Good luck!
Click to expand...

yeah, really nice page. great job :cool:
 
It's getting real close!

Picture 1.png
 
cycocelica said:
I am just going to Purchase 100 Albums aroudn the time of the 1 billionth song. THEN I WILL WIN! :D
Click to expand...

And you're assuming that the count down on Apples site is correct?

Also, that's going to be in about 1 hour.....its at 999,913,500 right now


woah - that just jumped 7k in a few seconds. Looks like the clock updates all the time according to a rate, but then up refreshes with the actual. So you better star buying now :D

Good luck,

D
 
Mr. Anderson said:
And you're assuming that the count down on Apples site is correct?

Also, that's going to be in about 1 hour.....its at 999,913,500 right now


woah - that just jumped 7k in a few seconds. Looks like the clock updates all the time according to a rate, but then up refreshes with the actual. So you better star buying now :D

Good luck,

D
Click to expand...

Sadly I dont have that kind of money. But it would be a good idea to do. I was going off what the app iTMS Estimator said but it seems that people are buying songs fast now so they predict 9:42 is when the 1 billionth song will be sold. I might buy an album around that time. Just to see if I do get lucky.
 
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