“It was in 2003 that Apple launched the iTunes Music Store with 200,000 songs at 99 cents each,” iPodNN reports. “Last year, the iTunes store achieved its 10 billionth song download, just after its ninth anniversary.”
iPodNN reports, “When one looks back at the milestones that iTunes has clocked up over the past decade, it is no coincidence that its arrival was critical in helping to kickstart Apple’s amazing comeback over the past decade under the guidance of its genius CEO Steve Jobs.”
Read more in the full article, which includes video of Apple CEO Steve Jobs introducing iTunes, here.
Contrary to revisionist history, iTunes wasn’t created solely to support the coming iPod – Apple desperately needed a piece “music jukebox” software for OS X. That’s why they bought SoundJam.
@Cubert – SoundJam lives forever!
I remember original OS X came with an MP3 player; I think it was just called “MP3 Player.” I don’t think it even had play-list support; iTunes was a major improvement over that.
Steve Jobs appeared on CNBC (Conservative NutBall Channel) after the event introducing the iPod. He talked about broadening Apple’s offerings to reduce dependence upon the Mac- remember his repeated references of legs on a stool.
Anyhow, he showed and talked about the iPod and the now forgotten CNBC anchor made a smarmy comment afterward along the lines of ” is that all ” like it was just another commodity mp3 player.
These days CNBC fellates Apple at every opportunity.
Most non-Mac users poopoo the development of Safari too when it first arrived. Today WebKit is “it”. Bet they still laugh behind Apple’s backing saying, how dumb of them to make the core open source. They will never see the Next one coming.
Heh. I got my first Mac in August 2001 and didn’t have much use for iTunes. I listened to music on a portable CD player and hadn’t hopped on the MP3 bandwagon. (Why would I? Before the iPod, playing MP3s anywhere but on a computer was a major pain in the butt.)
Then I got an iPod, and started ripping and ripping and ripping…
Now it’s hard to imagine life without iTunes.
——RM
Long live SoundJam MP!
Hands-down the best music player on OS 8 and 9! Until iTunes, at least. 😀 Good days.
–mAc
When iTunes first came out, I bought my first “big” external hard drive (forty GB!) so I could rip all of my CDs. I haven’t put a CD into any drive more than once since.
That’s fine and dandy too, but I think you guys should have wished iPhone a happy 4th birthday on the 9th too.
MDN MW: mean. Go figure.
much as i love most things apple, i really think it’s time for itunes to go on a diet. it’s getting bloated, really bloated. i tend to avoid it whenever possible, and just use my dj software for any music needs.
blah.
i prefer firefox too.
flame away, if you must.
It’s pretty funny listening to SJ talk about MP3 encoding and MP3 players knowing that the iPod was waiting in the wings…
@ Jeve
Funny when i hear the word “bloated” used especially in the context of itunes it so unreasonable.
If you had a clue what went on in the background of itunes you would retract that ridiculous statement of “bloated”.
iTunes itself is a very reasonably sized program 32 meg (Stand Alone) in the Mac Resource Folder. What adds to what you call as bloat is the additional languages and fonts that are included to support those instals and also additional codecs for conversion and of course needed to access your networks Apple TV’s Etc. and the App Store Sync your Devices and also update every device.
Considering what the Application does it is rather small for the well rounded control and options it gives a user, I have yet to see anyone that has been as successful and part of what Modern cultural is today as Apple and the iTunes Store or iTunes as being one in the same.
Now in the day and age of Multi Terabyte Hard Drives and Firewire and or USB Expansion Storage its a pretty lame excuse to use the bloated iTunes is to large analogy.
Now truth is you don’t love Apple, and you are fully aware of what response you would get even thinking of a defamatory name you could use that rimed with Steve Jobs — “Jeve Stobs” … don’t Flatter Yourself “Flame Away” … Please … you gave yourself away with that statement.. and the name of “Jeve Stobs” was just to much Apple hate overkill.
Enough is Enough.
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