“Apple said Wednesday that users downloaded a record number of songs from its iTunes Music Store since an upgrade last week that marked the site’s one-year anniversary and included a limited-time free song offer,” Keith Regan reports for MacNewsWorld.com. “Apple said 3.3 million songs were downloaded in the week following the third-generation upgrade of iTunes, also known as iTunes 4.5… The so-called third generation of iTunes expanded the site’s music catalog — it now holds 700,000 tracks — and focused heavily on enhancing the sense of community on the site.”
“Users also appear to be taking to the site’s newer features, posting some 20,000 personalized ‘iMixes,’ which in turn have been rated some 50,000 times by fellow iTunes Music Store visitors. Apple said about 500,000 of the 3.3 million songs downloaded were from the catalog of free music made available on the site for an eight-day period as part of the anniversary promotion,’ Regan reports.
“iTunes marked its one-year anniversary without reaching its goal of selling 100 million songs through the site by that time, falling about 30 million songs short. To boost downloads, it offered users the ability to download one free song a day for a week, offering free tracks from Foo Fighters, Annie Lennox and Jane’s Addiction,” Regan reports. “The offer apparently paid off, boosting overall downloads from the usual weekly rate of around 2.7 million.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wrong. Apple clearly stated, “In addition to the 3.3 million purchased songs, iTunes users have downloaded more than 500,000 free songs.” See, Keith, that means Apple sold 3.3 million songs (hence the use of the word “purchased”) and gave away 500,000 free songs on top of the 3.3 million (hence the use of the phrase “in addition to the 3.3 million purchased songs). Now, that wasn’t that hard to get right, was it?
Ever notice that the majority of “mistakes” when it come to Apple Computer articles take something away from Apple instead of “mistakenly” adding something in Apple’s favor?
The so-called “journalist” who can’t read and the so-called “editor” who published this obvious mistake add to the current lack of standards that make every so-called “fact” published a point of question. Shame on MacNewsWorld.
Oops. I bet Keith is feeling silly today.
MDN has an excellent track record of getting corrections. Now let’s see if MacNewsWorld does it, how long it takes, and if they show the article has been corrected or just pretend it didn’t happen.
“Ever notice that the majority of “mistakes” when it come to Apple Computer articles take something away from Apple instead of “mistakenly” adding something in Apple’s favor?”
Yes, I have. You almost never see an error to the positive when it comes to Apple reporting. These so-called “errors” almost always shortchange Apple.
I just hope it was an honest mistake and not just stupidity. If this error happened because of the inability to comprehend what one is reading, then I could go on a diatribe about the education system here in the states.
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Let’s hope TMO comes along and gets a spokesperson to clarify Apple’s policy on counting or not counting free downloads. <sarcasm>
iSteve – LOL!
“Now, that wasn’t that hard to get right, was it?”
No. And leads to the question, why did they get it wrong? What’s the motivation? Honest mistake my ass.
Do free songs count towards Billboard’s chart numbers? For instance, if 1 song is “purchased” for free, and is done so, 50,000 times…would it crack the top 40?
“Ever notice that the majority of “mistakes” when it come to Apple Computer articles take something away from Apple instead of “mistakenly” adding something in Apple’s favor?”
Shows the biased nature against Apple. It is obvious.
JadisOne – Go on your diatribe. Clearly Keith Ragan can’t do the math.
“The surge in users immediately after the anniversary shows the store can still draw a crowd with a promotion, something that Apple was likely eager to prove after its promotional effort with Pepsi hit some bumps in the road and resulted in around 5 million downloads, far fewer than expected.’
It seems to me that Apple proved just what they claimed: the Pepsi promotion WAS a success. Five million downloads in two months beats 500,000 downloads in one week.
Article has been corrected.
The clarity MDN refers to comes most of the way through the first paragraph. Perhaps Keith just didn’t read far enough.
What’s really AMAZING is that a rag that constantly rips off the content of other sources, and OFTEN does not credit where the mooched/found the content has the balls to be sarcastic about another site that actually does work. What is laughable is that iSteve is so moronoic that you’re trying to Mock the fact that another organization actually went to to Apple and FACT checked with the source itself. You know, did REAL JOURNALISM! The irony is not lost on me, but your sarcasm is basically self mocking.
MDN rules for getting lots of stories super quick. I cannot give enough kudos for that. That’s toil in and of itself. It also rules for a no-holds-bar air in the comments. I think that freedom to spout off is great. But the complete fanboy apple a$$kissfest, and the missatribution of sources is a super turn off.
Did anyone bother to notice that the article has now been corrected by MacNewsWorld:
“Editor’s Correction Note: In the original version of this article, we incorrectly stated, “Apple said about 500,000 of the 3.3 million songs downloaded were from the catalog of free music made available on the site for an eight-day period as part of the anniversary promotion.” In fact, the 500,000 free songs were in addition to the 3.3 million songs purchased.”
What, are you people all about 12 years old? If you really don’t like this site, then stop reading it!!!
Grow up and stop the childish ranting.
TopsailBob: it was noted by Seahawk 40 mins before. Does anyone actually *read* the threads?
gurgle… gurgle… blip…. blip… gurgle… Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
cat fighting will get you everywhere…
baaawhahahhahahah
re: TopsailBob
“What, are you people all about 12 years old? If you really don’t like this site, then stop reading it!!!
Grow up and stop the childish ranting.”
Maybe you should heed your own advice?
Why don’t we just rename this site MacCorrections. The next article I expect to see is “New York Times leaves out an apostrophe on iTunes 4.5 review”. Jeez.
Given that the site in question appears to be a pro-Mac web site, doesn’t all this bltching smack just a tad of the psychotic paranoid rantings of over-zealotous, well… zealots? Yeah, I thought so. Thanks for furthering the reputation of the rest of us Mac users as “MacHeads”, “Mac Faithful”, and worse. Nimrods. Sheesh.
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It is not clear sometimes who the..”12 year olds are ..”
but I won’t take it personally…jk
Reading original writing is more stimulating than the board “bored” stuff
I like reading the divergent comments here, thanks
I like MDN’s open, anonymous, and transparent forums. So I’ll post. Hmmm. Uh, should I say something now?
That’s exactly why I come to MDN to get the real scoop on news. At least the editors here check the facts and lay out those who don’t. And oh yeah, TMO sucks ass…
You guys are funny.