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iTunes sells 2 Million Songs

How does this news warrant 13 negative votes? That's fricking dumb, there's 13 fricking dumb people here. International support? Coming. Not much of your mucis? More coming every week. What is there to bitch about Apple doing something successful? The stock has gone up $3-$4 since the music news broke the first week about the 1 million downloads.

Some people need a life if they feel positive news like this is negative. Maybe that feature needs to be removed from the front page.
 
I doubt international pricing would be so simple...

In Japan, a CD album costs nearly $30 when converted to dollars.
In Switzerland, a CD costs roughly $20.

Those are the only two places I've lived and bought CDs from, but
the music companies won't settle for suddenly accepting "relatively"
lower prices from those regions just because it's online. So you can't
just sell each song for 99 cents in local currency equivalent...

It's almost like you pay 99 cents if billing address is in the U.S.,
equivalent of $1.25 (~150 yen) per song if you live in Japan, etc...

I'm wondering how this can be accomplished without people in Japan
feeling ripped off. (I mean they already know they are paying more than
other countries for regular CDs, still...)

[edit]
By the way, I don't think Apple ever intended iTMS to become the online source of *all* music, IMO. It's a source of online music. People who wanted really good quality music have and probably always will go out and get the music physically. So recording companies don't care about those audience much... Stop complaining about AAC quality. I think the service is aimed at those used to getting mp3's and we know mp3 is not a high quality format...

As for higher bit rate... I don't think they can do that yet. I think one of the thing 128 kbps AAC does is that when dropped to an audio CD and re-ripped to mp3, the quality gets bad. I've never done this but I think this is one of the features of AAC that prevents being used on P2P. If the bit rate was higher, the re-ripped mp3 will sound good enough to be traded on P2P.
[\edit]
 
"That's easy. When I buy something in Canada my Credit Card company does the conversion for me. Apple doesn't have to blink an eye. It's a USD .99 period if they remain equal in licensing."

I think that one of the biggest problems is taxes. For example every European country have their own VATs. Maybe it is not a problem but I really hope that if iTMS launches in Europe, it´ll not be more expensive than in USA. We are paying 499 euros for the 15 gig iPod. At the monent with one euro you get 1,1498 dollars.
 
Re: Nope.. Good Sound is Good Sound

Originally posted by DrGruv1
AAC 128 is not good sound on any medium..
Click to expand...

But it's Good Enough(tm) for most people, most of the time. It's higher quality than FM radio, not to mention AM, and tape.

None of which have been seen as "not good enough" for most of the listening public, certainly not for listening to music in and uncontrolled environment, which is where most people spend most of their waking hours.

listen to the cd first... and compare.
Click to expand...

If you need the higher quality, then go buy the CD, AAC is not replacing CDs, in case you were worried.

It's called freedom to choose. There is no single solution that is perfect for every person in every situation.
 
Originally posted by Mudbug
I think that should be 1.1498 dollars. ;)

otherwise, I'm investing in foreign currency now.
Click to expand...

Common european formatting uses commas where Americans use periods, and vice versa.

Sometimes it looks a bit startling.
 
i'll try it out when the songs are 50c each, or $6 for an album. 256k aac minimum. until then, it's not worth it for me.

i can get most new cd's for $13 or less and not have to worry about quality or spending $1 + my time to burn to disc so i can listen to it in my car.

for now, no thanks apple.

99c a song is too damn expensive when there is no physical medium and the encoding is a paltry 128k aac.
 
Originally posted by mara
I think that one of the biggest problems is taxes. For example every European country have their own VATs. Maybe it is not a problem but I really hope that if iTMS launches in Europe, it´ll not be more expensive than in USA. We are paying 499 euros for the 15 gig iPod. At the monent with one euro you get 1,1498 dollars.
Click to expand...

Good point. And it will be more expensive. Blame your governments.

Originally posted by jxyama
I doubt international pricing would be so simple...

In Japan, a CD album costs nearly $30 when converted to dollars.
In Switzerland, a CD costs roughly $20.

Those are the only two places I've lived and bought CDs from, but
the music companies won't settle for suddenly accepting "relatively"
lower prices from those regions just because it's online. So you can't
just sell each song for 99 cents in local currency equivalent...

It's almost like you pay 99 cents if billing address is in the U.S.,
equivalent of $1.25 (~150 yen) per song if you live in Japan, etc...

I'm wondering how this can be accomplished without people in Japan
feeling ripped off. (I mean they already know they are paying more than
other countries for regular CDs, still...)
Click to expand...

It might be taxes. I think other than taxes, prices should be, and probably will be the same all over.

Originally posted by jxyama
How would they handle price differences? [edit] (For international iTMS.) [/edit] Will they tie your credit card billing adress to the prices shown on iTunes? I sure hope they don't regionalize the songs. I'd like to have access to Japanese music if that ever launches...
Click to expand...

You mean the currency differences? I don't know. Taxes will be another issue.

Originally posted by jxyama
How many Mac users that are able to use iTMS (i.e. U.S. users) are yet to use the service? (I haven't tried iTMS yet, but I am mightly tempted. I fear that once I get into it, I'll drop a ton of money without really realizing how much I've spent!
Click to expand...

I'll start this fall.

Originally posted by jxyama
Would it be possible for educational institutions (who owns more Macs - proportionally speaking - and usually have fast internet connection) to set up an iTMS "station" where students can purchase songs and download into their iPod or burn an audio CD? How to handle credit card info on a public computer? Or will hardheaded school teachers argue that students should not be using school resources to download music? :D
Click to expand...

They will. I could see Apple setting up these stations at their own stores, though.
 
By the way, unless you use mass transit or live within walking distance of a music store, getting a CD costs you gas as well as time.

I guess what I meant about international pricing is this:

A can of Coke is usually 75 cents or less in the U.S. from most vending machines.
In Japan, it's 120 yen, which is roughly $1.

If Coke suddenly and miraculously became available via iDrink Apple service worldwide, Coca-Cola Japan simply won't let Apple sell Coke for the U.S. price in Japan.

This is beyond VAT...

I think this will necessitate iTunes to remember what region you are in and display the adjusted price. Otherwise, the local music sales would be hit pretty hard...

[edit] By the way, I hope the guy talking about the European convention of comma in place of a decimal point was joking. I've met too many ignorant people in the U.S. who could never get over why Swiss postal code (no, it's not a ZIP code) has "only" 4 digits or silly web designers who format the address entry fields to be exactly like American style (complete with "required" 2-letter State abbreviation and 5 digit Zip code) even though their website expects substantial international traffic... [\edit]
 
Originally posted by jxyama
By the way, unless you use mass transit or live within walking distance of a music store, getting a CD costs you gas as well as time.

I guess what I meant about international pricing is this:

A can of Coke is usually 75 cents or less in the U.S. from most vending machines.
In Japan, it's 120 yen, which is roughly $1.

If Coke suddenly and miraculously became available via iDrink Apple service worldwide, Coca-Cola Japan simply won't let Apple sell Coke for the U.S. price in Japan.

This is beyond VAT...

I think this will necessitate iTunes to remember what region you are in and display the adjusted price. Otherwise, the local music sales would be hit pretty hard...
Click to expand...

But we are talking about a product that is sold in quantities that approach a commodity. Apple computers are not commodities. Memory chips are. Music is sold in such great quantities it is a kind of commoditity. Commodities are sold - usually - at lowest cost and highest volume. so every extra coke you sell, or Proctor and Gamble soap, etc., is money for the parent company. So selling extra copies of songs in Japan is money in Sony/Columbia's account. I think that means a potential decrease in margin would be ok, if total sales went up.

And don't forget that exchange rates can work both ways, can vary so that a dollar is worth less or more of the other currency. It could wind up being more yen to buy 99¢ worth of song at some point in the future, not less.
 
Originally posted by matznentosh
And don't forget that exchange rates can work both ways, can vary so that a dollar is worth less or more of the other currency. It could wind up being more yen to buy 99¢ worth of song at some point in the future, not less.
Click to expand...

Very true... I am curious how it will be done. Personally, it would be nice to be able to access some Japanese music without having to buy CDs when I go back to Japan every few years.
 
Re: All this...

Originally posted by wilco
Without any significant advertising.

I may be wrong, but I've yet to see a single tv spot promoting the service.
Click to expand...

I've talked with many Mac advocates that are not tuned into the online news and rumors sites that didn't hear about the service yet. If they are pulling in more dollars than anticipated and they can handle more customers, they can afford to get some (more?) ads out there. Or rather, they can't afford not to get some ads out there.

Maybe Apple is rethinking their initial commercials? I didn't think the responce at Steve's presentation was overwhelming. They've been pulled from http://www.apple.com/music/ads/.
 
Originally posted by jxyama
Would it be possible for educational institutions (who owns more Macs - proportionally speaking - and usually have fast internet connection) to set up an iTMS "station" where students can purchase songs and download into their iPod or burn an audio CD? How to handle credit card info on a public computer? Or will hardheaded school teachers argue that students should not be using school resources to download music? :D
Click to expand...
I doubt any school district, college, or university would want to set up stations for this type of thing. What is the advantage to the school? None that I can see. But don't think that will stop kids from doing it anyway behind the teachers' or professors' back. The problems come when Billy in high school decides to use dad's credit card to set up his one-click account and buys $20 worth of music and then leaves the settings and the next kids rack up another $200 worth of charges.
 
with 2 million downloads in two weeks and only mac users can buy music, i dont think they need to advertise right now. everybody knows about it. i think they should save the advertising dollars until they introduce iTMS for Windows...
 
Originally posted by Jerry Spoon
If Apple doesn't open up to the international market or pc users, I would guess about 35 million in the first year, averaging 3 million a month. They can't stay on the pace they're on now, but it will still be a monumental success. Of course, if they open up to mac users outside the US or pc users, that number is going to be a lot bigger.
Click to expand...

Here's a bit to tantilize the possibility of the Windows potential for the iTMS:
But analysts and investors expect ITunes to take off when Apple makes its music store available to users of the competing Windows platform, whose numbers dwarf the ranks of Mac users. If 10 percent of the Windows market downloaded music, sales would come to around $20 million a week -- which pencils out to annualized earnings of 62 cents, according to analyst Kevin McCarthy of CS First Boston.
Click to expand...

I believe they are talking about Apple's share of the sales being $20 million, which is roughly $1 billion per year revenue from the service, if that weekly sales averages across a year.

Since Apple makes roughly a third from the sales, $20 million is $67 million gross sales per week. Someone else can do the calculations to figure out the single-to-cd ratios at that number.

Looks potentially good, I'd say.

theFly
www.flyonthemac.com
Rumors You Can Bet On
 
Originally posted by Jerry Spoon
They can't stay on the pace they're on now, but it will still be a monumental success.
Click to expand...

On the contrary. As I've already pointed out, growth in sales should follow a classic "S" curve if the product doesn't fizzle right out of the gate. This one hasn't even reached the entire Mac market in the first two weeks, let alone the much larger market beyond the Mac. The people who've tried it are those who are comfortable trying something new (aka, "early adopters"). The less adventuresome folks are next, and they're a much, much bigger crowd.

The "S" curve. Look it up -- it's in all the marketing and human behavior books.
 
I think those with negative comments are missing the point. A primary feature of the Apple Music Store is for people like me, who would rather be legal but not willing to buy a $17 CD for the one song that I want, to get legal. I have bought 11 songs so far. That is $11 more than the music companies have gotten from me in 2 years.

The whole system that the music industry has employeed to sell music is draconian. And I do not want to be a part of it. Apple Music Store is finally something that I do not detest. I go check and see if they have the song, and if I want it I buy it. If they do not have it, I get on the net and I download it for free. Hey their loss, I would have bought it if they would have sold it the way I wanted it.
 
Originally posted by IJ Reilly
On the contrary. As I've already pointed out, growth in sales should follow a classic "S" curve if the product doesn't fizzle right out of the gate. This one hasn't even reached the entire Mac market in the first two weeks, let alone the much larger market beyond the Mac. The people who've tried it are those who are comfortable trying something new (aka, "early adopters"). The less adventuresome folks are next, and they're a much, much bigger crowd.

The "S" curve. Look it up -- it's in all the marketing and human behavior books.
Click to expand...
The question really is, "When will it reach the entire (or majority) of the mac market?" Apple's really going to have to advertise, and as mentioned earlier by others and myself, there hasn't been much of that. Why? Maybe b/c they wanted to make sure they could handle the initial influx before going out to the mac-masses. I know others have said this before about other Apple ads, but I'm worried that Apple is going to make a slick ad and when the 30 seconds are over, the average mac user won't really realize how great this service is. Watching the commercials they have now that I've seen on Apple's site (but not on TV) I really think it lacks a little info on how easy this whole process of using the iTMS really is.
 
So how much $ does Apple actually MAKE off each song though? I doubt it's much money at all really...
 
revenues

Originally posted by dstranathan
So how much $ does Apple actually MAKE off each song though? I doubt it's much money at all really...
Click to expand...

Published reports state that Apple collects about .35 per song in revenue. You won't know what their actual profit is, until they report it.

But knowing how stealth they are during earnings calls, it'll probably be Gaussian blurred, and lumped in with other numbers unless quite substantial.

For the fun of it, let's run some numbers:

A. 2 million songs x .35= $700K GROSS

B. NET=?? because their costs are the unknown.

They probably won't turn a true profit on this venture for quite some time UNLESS the infrastructure is made from modules already in use elsewhere, like the Apple Store, Trailers Page, etc.
 
Quality of AAC

Aren't one of the rumors 'an advanced ipod doc to plug into a stereo"

While I mostly use the Mackie's, I have a pair of Paradigm bookshelf speakers in the living room.

Won't people hear the difference from the aac they play from the pod and their own cd's?

-Michael
 
I'm glad to see the songs and albums are still selling! Hopefully they will continue to sell!
 
Re: Quality of AAC

Originally posted by DrGruv1
Aren't one of the rumors 'an advanced ipod doc to plug into a stereo"

Won't people hear the difference from the aac they play from the pod and their own cd's?

-Michael
Click to expand...

I think you overestimate the typical home stereo, and the people using them. Besides, an A/B comparison is not likely to happen that often even if they did have decent speakers and knew how to listen to them.

Typical home I have been in, over fifty percent, don't even place the speakers to get a stereo image, they place them within 3 feet of each other on either side of their receiver. Then they go sit in the corner or go into the other room while it plays.
 
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