ITunes Store


iTunes Store is a digital marketplace selling songs, albums, music videos, ringtones and alert tones. It was launched by Apple Inc. on April 28, 2003, for Mac OS X, and on October 16, 2003, for Microsoft Windows. It launched as a mobile application with iOS on June 29, 2007.
It previously sold mobile applications until the launch of the App Store on July 10, 2008, and e-books until the launch of the iBooks Store on March 31, 2010. It also used to facilitate the downloading of podcasts which later became integrated into Apple Podcasts, as well as the provision to buy and rent films and TV shows which has since become integrated into Apple TV.
The iTunes Store opened as part of then-CEO Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. When it launched, it was the only legal digital catalog of music to offer songs from all five major record labels, which played a part in its success and influenced the music downloading business. Music streaming services began to overtake music downloading, with Apple launching Apple Music on June 30, 2015.

History

Steve Jobs saw the opportunity to open a digital marketplace for music due to the rising popularity of easily downloadable tracks. In 2002, Jobs made an agreement with the five major record labels to offer their content through iTunes. The iTunes Music Store was introduced by Jobs at a special Apple music event in April 2003. Music could be purchased in the iTunes application, and purchases were playable in iTunes or on the iPod. The store was initially available to Mac computers, and was later expanded to Microsoft Windows in October 2003 when iTunes for Windows was launched.
In April 2008, the iTunes Store was the largest music vendor in the United States, and in February 2010, it was the largest music vendor in the world. The iTunes Store's revenues in the first quarter of 2011 totaled nearly US$1.4 billion. By May 28, 2014, the store had sold 35 billion songs worldwide.
In 2016, it was reported that music streaming services had overtaken digital downloads in sales. It was reported that iTunes-style digital download sales had dropped 24% as streaming continued to increase.
In April 2018, the iTunes app was added to the Microsoft Windows 10 app store. Beginning in the spring of 2019, the iTunes app became available on Samsung Smart TVs.
In October 2019, with the release of macOS Catalina, iTunes was split into separate Music, TV, and Podcasts apps. Apple's storefront for movies and television shows moved inside the TV app. Any music in users' iTunes library would transfer to the Music app, which would still offer access to the iTunes Store.

Features and restrictions

Current availability

The iTunes Store is available on most Apple devices, including the Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod touch, and the Apple TV, as well as on Windows. Video purchases from the iTunes Store are viewable on the Apple TV app on Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices and certain smart televisions. Unlike other Apple media services such as Apple Music or Apple TV+, there is no web-based interface for the iTunes Store with the exception of limited iTunes Preview pages; the desktop application has to be installed to browse the store. While initially a dominant player in digital media, by the mid-2010s, streaming media services were generating more revenue than the buy-to-own model used by the iTunes Store.
Currently, iTunes is supported on the macOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. iTunes was known to run passably well in Linux on x86-based computers using the Wine compatibility layer; however, by December 2011, this was no longer the case. Users without iTunes installed can see a content database using the iTunes Preview service, which runs inside a web browser. This service also allows users to watch trailers for upcoming film releases. Should they choose to purchase any media, they will be redirected to iTunes.

Pricing model

History

Following the introduction of the iTunes Store, individual songs were all sold for the same price, though Apple introduced multiple prices in 2007. Music in the store is in the Advanced Audio Coding format, which is the MPEG-4-specified successor to MP3. Originally, songs were only available with DRM and were encoded at. At the January 2009 Macworld Expo, Apple announced that all iTunes music would be made available without DRM, and encoded at the higher-quality rate of. Previously, this model, known as "iTunes Plus", had been available only for music from EMI and some independent labels. Users can sample songs by listening to previews, ninety seconds in length, or thirty seconds for short tracks.
In addition, the iTunes Store offers apps, which are applications used for various purposes that are compatible with the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad, although some apps are specifically for the iPhone or iPad only. Some apps cost money and some are free. Developers can decide which prices they want to charge for apps, from a pre-set list of pricing tiers, from free to several hundred dollars. When someone downloads an App, 70 percent of the purchase goes to the developer, and 30 percent goes to Apple.
At the Macworld 2008 keynote, Steve Jobs, who was Apple's CEO at the time, announced iTunes movie rentals. Movies are available for rent in the iTunes Store on the same day they are released on DVD, though the iTunes Store also offers for rental some movies that are still in theaters. Movie rentals are only viewable for 24 hours or 48 hours after users begin viewing them. The iTunes Store also offers one low-priced movie rental a week: in the United States, this rental costs 99 cents. Movie rentals are still not available in all countries but they are available in many countries including the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand.
There is a weekly promotion in which one to three songs are available to download for free to logged-in users. Free downloads are available on Tuesdays, and remain free until the following Tuesday, when the store gets refreshed with new content. Some artists choose to have select songs available for no charge. This is not available at all iTunes Stores. Some iTunes television programs have begun the same technique to encourage brand loyalty, although those stay longer. In fact, the iTunes Store has a "Free TV Episodes" page where free episodes are organized by length, either as "featurettes" or full-length episodes. Free content can vary from a preview of a show to bonus content to pilot episodes and entire seasons of TV shows. Some networks, such as ABC and NBC, have their own pages of "Free Season Premieres".
While previously the US iTunes Store has offered as many as three free songs each week in recent years, the store has instead replaced the three aforementioned categories with a unified "Single of the Week" banner, with the week's single being from a new up-and-coming artist. In 2015, Apple discontinued the "Single of the Week" program.

Current model

Music
  • A song usually costs 99¢; however, for songs with high popularity, the price is usually raised to. By default, songs that are more than 10 minutes are considered "Album Only"; distributors also have the power to make a song "Album Only." For special offers, song prices can be dropped to 69¢ or free.
  • By default, music albums cost or the price of all the songs combined if it is less than. However, the music album's distributor can set a higher price for the album, which usually happens on popular music albums. For special offers, prices of music albums can be dropped to,,, or.
  • On June 30, 2015, Apple launched Apple Music as a subscription service, initially available in 110 countries. New subscribers are offered a three-month free trial with ongoing subscriptions priced from /month in the US and £10.99 in the UK or €10,99 for countries in the Eurozone.
    TV shows
  • By default, HD television episodes cost, while standard definition television episodes cost. However, distributors can make a television episode "Season Only."
  • A television season costs either an amount of dollars and 99 cents with the number in the one's place being a 4, 7, or 9, or the price of all episodes combined.
    Movies
  • Unpopular movies cost to buy in standard definition and to buy in HD. Popular movies or new releases cost to buy in standard definition and to buy in HD.
  • Unpopular movies cost to rent in standard definition and to rent in HD. Popular movies cost to rent in standard definition and to rent in HD. For recent releases, this price is increased by.
  • Movies that are available in 4K and HDR cost the same price as HD, and are automatically upgraded from HD to 4K and HDR at no additional cost. Movies can be played back in 4K and HDR on an Apple TV 4K or a Mac released in 2018 or later running macOS Catalina when hooked up to a compatible display, and can be played back in HDR on an iPhone 8/X or later, a 10.5" or 11" iPad Pro, and a 2nd gen or later 12.9" iPad Pro running iOS 11 or later, or a MacBook released in 2018 or later running macOS Catalina or later.
  • Movies that are available with a Dolby Atmos audio track requires an Apple TV 4K running tvOS 12 or later hooked up to a Dolby Atmos soundbar or receiver, a MacBook released in 2018 or later running macOS Catalina, an iPhone XS/XR running iOS 13 or later, or an 11"/3-gen 12.9" iPad Pro running iPadOS or later.
    Apps
App prices are set by the developer; they can be free of charge or charged at 99 cents plus any number of dollars.

iTunes Store for iOS

The iTunes Store allows users to purchase and download items directly to portable Apple devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and iPod Touch. Apple offers three apps, each of which provides access to certain types of content.
  • The App Store app sells apps for iOS, and also provides updates to these apps.
  • The iTunes Store app sells music and videos.
  • The Apple Books app sells ebooks.
Other, free content available from the iTunes Store can be accessed from two other iOS apps:
  • The Podcasts apps lets users download, subscribe to and sync podcasts.
  • The iTunes U app gives access to iTunes U educational material.
Originally, mobile users had to be connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to enter the store, hence its original name: iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. However, at Macworld 2009, Apple issued a software update which automatically allowed 3G and EDGE users to access the store's full functionality for files smaller than 10 megabytes. The iOS 3.0 update added the ability to download movies, TV shows, audiobooks, iTunes U, and ringtones on mobile devices, in addition to the previously available songs and podcasts. On February 18, 2010, Apple increased the 10 MB 3G download limit to 20 MB. In March 2012, Apple increased the 3G download limit to 50 MB, and, in late 2013, Apple increased the limit to 100 MB when they released the final version of iOS 7 for their new iPhones.