“Although visitor figures to the Australian iTunes music store, which opened for business two weeks ago, will not be known for two weeks, traffic levels to American and British iTunes sites suggest Apple could be on target to be the No. 1 music download site soon,” Julian Lee reports for The Age. “In September, ninemsn and BigPond recorded 192,000 and 178,000 unique visitors respectively, says Nielsen Net Ratings. In the same month, 305,000 Australians visited overseas iTunes sites, either to download iTunes software, free podcasts and sample songs or, for those with the appropriate credit cards, to buy and download songs to iPods.”
“Apple is not saying how many people have visited the site or downloaded music but senior executives pointed to the success of other markets; four days after the launch of the Japanese site in August, Apple recorded a million downloads – more than twice the usual monthly volume for the entire industry. None of the [other] music download sites reveal the volume of downloads but more than 600 million songs have been downloaded to iTunes sites globally,” Lee reports.
Full article here.
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Related articles:
Apple passes 600 million iTunes Music Store songs sold milestone – October 25, 2005
Analyst: Sony BMG’s boycott of Apple’s iTunes Music Store Australia won’t last long – October 24, 2005
Coles Myer to carry Apple iTunes Music Store Cards in Australia – October 24, 2005
Apple launches iTunes Music Store Australia – October 24, 2005
Wonderful news! Really. and for sure, too.
{whiny anyway]
There are no ‘free’ sample songs, however. Only free song excerpts. Free Podcasts? Yes. But you can’t get one of those entire ‘free song’ downloads from the iTunes Music Store without first having provided a credit card somewhere in order to have obtained an iTMS account.
Try it. I’ll apologize if I’m wrong.
[/whine]
Kinda embarrassing I suppose to reveal what the second place numbers are. Must be pretty bad though. But I am surprised that Australia, after the long wait didn’t announce 1 million songs sold inside of a week.. what with all the whining about a store that was going on for over a year…
MDN MW = Science, as in there is a science to these numbers… the competitors haven’t figured it out yet
Blimey!
The Aussie site is going to be a big winner for Apple. I am OSeas and have already got a couple of albums on the Pod using my credit card.
My kids will be getting vouchers for Xmas for their Pod. The figures will be excellent but should be better when there is more content.
Apple – Where are the free tracks for us Aussies?
That’s it in a PodShell
Please, no whining. Yes, even here in the US, I had to provide a credit card. But I did that long before the free song stuff ever started on iTMS. So, when the free ones became available, and then free podcasts became available, yes, to me, they were completely free. Stop whining.
MW: “got,” as in, got a life?
Yes!: I haven’t entered my credit card number into my iTunes account–I don’t have a credit card. Instead I buy the music cards from my local store to juice my account. And I can still download the free sample songs. (The weekly Tuesday download of the week.)
MW: answer
“There are no ‘free’ sample songs, however.”
Yes there are.
“”There are no ‘free’ sample songs, however.”
Yes there are.”
Um, well, actually I have no idea if they have free singles on the Oz iTMS. I just presumed they would have similar offerings as they do in the US. In the US, Apple has been offering free tracks every week practically from the beginning.
No free tracks in Denmark yet!!! Apple, what’s up? (It’s about the only thing I can think of that’s wrong with itms)
“Damn that Australian iTunes Music Store” (chair flies across room glancing off recently replaced bullet proof glass window). “I’m gonna fucking bury Apple!”
Yells “Where’s Rob that little weener from RealPlayer? What’s he doing with all that money we gave them? Damn (2nd chair flies across room and bounces harmlessly off window).
“Somebody get me a fucking clue! I need to know what the hell is going on.” (small airborne end table self distructs on rugged new window….
“Balmy, settle down, I’ve got the answer…. MS should give away music!” It’ll work just like IE did. Put up a big music site and give away all the content. People will come in droves. You’ll be a star, a beacon of light”.
“Robbie Boy, you’re not making some joke about my greasy bald head are you?”
The nice thing about entering your credit card into iTunes is that it’s not a subscription service. So, it is not like you have to go through the hassle of canceling your account if you decide not to purchase anything, ever. It’s just there for you in case you do decide to purchase a song or album. No big deal. You guys and gals give your credit cards out to teenage waitresses and waiters every day and never think twice about it. Giving it out online is more secure than that – unless you giving it to a Microsoft Windows server LOL.
Apple has another secure payment option: giftcards purchased at the Apple store. It’s easy to enter the number at their Apple ITunes Internet Store and have the credit available whenever and wherever you are. It’s worked very well for me for over a year and a half.
And Apple music store gift cards make great gifts.
How the hell are you guys getting the free song without an iTunes account? They won’t let me do it here in Canada. The iTMS demands that I get an account every single time I try to download the stupid free track scam.
Whats the hack? I want it. Give it up or I’m gonna start barkin’ again about how dot Mac doesn’t work for the iTMS either.
K?
and .. Apple Internet Store? What Apple Internet Store? Never heard of it and couldn’t Google it. ???
Listen, I love Apple. I really do .. but when they run a scam like they are with this phoney ‘free’ song of the week business .. I’m gonna call ’em on it .. just like I do whenever a beloved family member of mine tries to scam me. heh.
eaxit,
“But I am surprised that Australia, after the long wait didn’t announce 1 million songs sold inside of a week.. what with all the whining about a store that was going on for over a year…”
A simple answer to your musings; there’s been virtually no advertising by Apple over the opening of the Oz ITMS. And the domestic political scene would’ve caused a lot of static as well. We’ve been moving towards unprecedented security and industrial relations legislation which has been dominating the media.
Likewise Australian consumers are under increasing financial pressures viz. oil prices and the like.
I especially object to your use of the word “whining”. I and many other Australians used this website and others to keep the pressure on Apple and the record companies to open the store in this country. It was not whining, it was concerted pressure. What were we supposed to do shut up and take it on the chin. Not bloody likely. Not in the era of the internet.
Muse on that mate!
Um, is it such a problem to provide a cc account?
I have dozens of iTMS tunes for which I have received a nominal invoice for £0.00 — which is as near free as I’m ever likely to get…
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Yep, I don’t see the CC thing as a scam either. With the iTunes store, you could download the two free tracks each week and have 112 free songs a year. Sure, they’ve gotten you to register with your CC, but so what, they’re not using your CC for anything unless you purchase. I do wonder, though, if Apple is including the free download songs in their numbers for songs “purchased” as I do get an invoice for each free song – it simply says that the song cost $0.
Mark
I don’t use my credit card to buy songs off iTMS, I just buy the cards from Coles or OfficeWorks. It also controls my purchases so I don’t go overboard.
You do not have to enter credit card details!!! I never did and I’ve downloaded one free song without it. You only need to have an active iTMS account which I stress again, requires no credit card details to create.
The only advertising Apple has done since the launch of iTMS is the Eminem ad which doesn’t say a word about the music store, only iTunes, Eminem’s new album, and Apple. No mention of the iTMS being open although there’s been plenty of mentions on nightly news and newspapers
MW: pressure. No pressure to provide credit card details
OK. Lets be clear here.
The word ‘free’ in the iTMS Free Weekly Single definitely does not have the same meaning as the word ‘free’ as in Free Podcasts. The Free Podcasts are accessable with no financial pre-requirements whatsoever. The Free Weekly Single requires some monetary pre-input to happen at some stage, somewhere. If folks think that duplicity of meaning in the iTMS for the word ‘free’ isn’t squirrely, I guess we simply disagree.
In regard to the iTMS accounts, when trying to download the so called Free Single, I consistantly get a pop-up telling me that a valid credit card must be provided. If others don’t get that notice, I don’t know what to think. I do get it. Every single time. If I try to purchase gift certificates .. same thing .. provide a valid credit card.
Now then. I have a credit card of thirty years membership that is valid for everything else on the planet including for.Mac and for the Apple Store .. but not for the iTMS due to residency vs location of bank circumstances. (Billing address is in country of purchase but the bank is not.)
I should get a new and seperate credit card just for the iTMS? That’s bullshit. I should instead pay five bucks return-fare to get on a bus, go downtown and purchase a piece of paper with an iTMS number on it? That’s bullshit too, at least in regard to the issue of what’s free and what isn’t in that iTMS.
Bottom line, the Free Single Of The Week isn’t free. It has strings attached. At my house, those strings require a credit card unless I come up with some weirdo retail-store gift card iTMS entry fee or something. That’s not ‘free’. Apple should clean that discrepancy up.
Bull:
Quit your whining and get a credit card in the country you reside in. If you’ve had one for 30 years you should be able to get another one.
You would think so, wouldn’t you, max. And yet I cling stubbornly to the valid card that I do already have, huh? Maybe there’s a reason?
Regardless, the circumstances make clear that there is a discrepancy between what’s really free and what’s merely being represented as free, but actually is not. That bugs me.
And your final solution? Get a credit card? Get a (more) valid credit card? We agree, I guess. Isn’t that what I’ve been saying?
hey guys,
is it possible for you to buy itunes gift cards in australia, then create a new us account and then use the ozzie gift card on there??..bcoz my gift card is already bound with an ozzie account and i can’t purchase anything from the states…which totally sucks coz the US has a more massive range of songs and episodes of tv series and stuff that i can’t get on the iTMS down under