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iTunes Music Store Turns 20 Today: 'Just 99 Cents Per Song'

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Today marks the 20th anniversary of Apple launching the iTunes Music Store, allowing Mac users to download music for "just 99 cents per song."

iTunes-Music-Store-2003.jpeg

At launch, the iTunes Music Store offered over 200,000 songs from music labels such as Sony, Universal, and Warner, with free 30-second previews of any song. The store provided convenient access to songs on an à-la-carte basis at a time when pirating music was rampant via peer-to-peer file sharing programs such as LimeWire and KaZaA.

"The iTunes Music Store offers the revolutionary rights to burn an unlimited number of CDs for personal use and to put music on an unlimited number of iPods for on-the-go listening," said Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs, in an April 28, 2003 press release. "Consumers don't want to be treated like criminals and artists don't want their valuable work stolen. The iTunes Music Store offers a groundbreaking solution for both."

Apple expanded iTunes and the online music store to Windows in October 2003. At the time, Apple said customers had purchased more than 13 million songs from the iTunes Music Store, making it the "number one download music service in the world."

Apple has gradually phased out the iTunes brand over the past few years, and the music store is now located in the Music app on the Mac. iTunes has also been overshadowed by Apple Music and other streaming music services, with many customers now opting to pay a monthly subscription fee for unlimited access to up to 100 million songs.

Article Link: iTunes Music Store Turns 20 Today: 'Just 99 Cents Per Song'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/04/28/itunes-music-store-turns-20/
When I tell people that I still buy my music, I get laughed at.
Obviously it's everyone's choice, but my rationale - that I would have to buy as much music as the cost of a streaming service to justify Apple Music, which would be about 10 tracks a month - makes sense unless you're willing to treat music as one customisable radio station that you don't own.
Most of my music has come from 0.99 purchases (about 2 or 3 a month from what I've Shazammed) and CDs.
 
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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
When I tell people that I still buy my music, I get laughed at.
Obviously it's everyone's choice, but my rationale - that I would have to buy as much music as the cost of a streaming service to justify Apple Music, which would be about 10 tracks a month - makes sense unless you're willing to treat music as one customisable radio station that you don't own.
Most of my music has come from 0.99 purchases (about 2 or 3 a month from what I've Shazammed) and CDs.
Click to expand...
Yea but songs aren't 99¢ anymore. Also I am paying to have any song anywhere anytime on any device, too. I do own a considerable number of songs, but having access to the whole music catalog is reason enough for me. Another benefit for me is I have kids that listen to kid-centric music. I have no desire to own the Teen Titans Go soundtrack knowing that I won't need it for too much longer, but its nice to ask siri to play it in the car.

I definitely can't begrudge someone preferring to own, rather than rent music, but it serves me well.
 
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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
When I tell people that I still buy my music, I get laughed at.
Yet when I explain my rationale - that I would have to buy as much music as the cost of a streaming service to justify Apple Music, which would be about 10 tracks a month - many come to terms.
Click to expand...
I held out for a while thinking this same way. But my expanding / changing interest in new and different genre’s of music made it make more sense being able to try listening to tons of bands and artists without having to buy any individual song. I’d rather buy a much more narrow collection of vinyl records of those artists or albums that are worth owning a physical copy of.
 
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I'd say it's time for Apple to jump on the current craze for retro reissue "drops" (for example, Nike with Air Jordan, Cortez, Air Max 97; vinyl now outselling CDs) with a 2003 iTunes skin for :apple:Music, a limited edition OG iPod, and iPhone-sized Socks.
 
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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
When I tell people that I still buy my music, I get laughed at.
Obviously it's everyone's choice, but my rationale - that I would have to buy as much music as the cost of a streaming service to justify Apple Music, which would be about 10 tracks a month - makes sense unless you're willing to treat music as one customisable radio station that you don't own.
Most of my music has come from 0.99 purchases (about 2 or 3 a month from what I've Shazammed) and CDs.
Click to expand...
I was like you until about a year ago when I finally gave Apple Music a try. Been a subscriber ever since. Like you, I never thought I'd be buying more songs than $10 worth a month so why subscribe to Apple Music? But I've just discovered so much great new music on Apple Music – I easily consume dozens and dozens of new songs a month now that I love. I never would have discovered those songs without Apple Music.
 
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My fondest memory of the launch of the iTunes store was how pissed my parents were when they got the following credit card statement after it's launch LoL. My excuse at the time was but at least i'm not downloading it illegally! They obviously did not thing it was a good excuse lol. It was a fresh of breath air not having to us Kazaaa and limewire taking the time to slowly download and realising it was a recording someone made from the radio instead of a digital rip. Also the short lived ability to be able to share a playlist with friends lol. Oh and also evey week downloading the single of the week, even if I hated it, just to feel like i was growing my music library.
 
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Apple raised the price from 99¢ to $1.29 not long after the store launched in order to drop the strict DRM requirements on store purchases. It's actually kind of impressive they haven't raised the prices since then, though I'm sure Apple Music subscriptions are the primary moneymaker in that arena now.
 
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I also purchase music from the iTunes store especially record companies can just pull tracks from the streaming catalog at any given time. The downside is Apple (or record companies agreement) limits to 10 devices at a time and freeing up the device takes up to 90 days.
 
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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
When I tell people that I still buy my music, I get laughed at.
Obviously it's everyone's choice, but my rationale - that I would have to buy as much music as the cost of a streaming service to justify Apple Music, which would be about 10 tracks a month - makes sense unless you're willing to treat music as one customisable radio station that you don't own.
Most of my music has come from 0.99 purchases (about 2 or 3 a month from what I've Shazammed) and CDs.
Click to expand...

I personally get bored of listening to the same songs all over again and like discovering new music, so music streaming services work very well for me. This way I have just around 50 tracks saved in my playlist and then can ask the streamer to play similar songs, which it readily does. Then if I suddenly want to hear one particular song again, this can also be done in seconds. Plus, streaming in general saves us some storage on a device.
 
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