Apple's iTunes Store has seen some pretty good growth in the last couple of years; it's currently the most popular online music store, and that apparently isn't all, according to MarketWatch. Just recently, iTunes managed to reach 25% (rising from 21% in 2008 and 14% the year before) of all music sales in the United States, meaning that it is now number one in both categories, be it digital or physical.Let's lay down some statistics here, straight from The NPD Group's report (keeping in mind they're all related to the United States only). Physical sales in the first half of this year (CDs, etc) accounted for 65% of all music sold, whereas digital hit 35% (up from 30% last year, and 20% in 2007). Russ Crupnick, who is vice president of entertainment industry analysis with The NPD Group, commented on this, saying, "But with digital music sales growing at 15 to 20 percent, and CDs falling by an equal proportion, digital music sales will nearly equal CD sales by the end of 2010."
iTunes is now at 69% of all digital sales in the U.S., with the closest rival being AmazonMP3, at 8 percent. In terms of physical sales, Walmart leads the way with 20 percent of sales, tailed by Best Buy at 16 percent, with Amazon and Target both at 10 percent each. Russ Crupnick, an entertainment industry analyst for The NPD Group, said, "The growth of legal digital music downloads, and Apple's success in holding that market, has increased iTunes's overall strength in the retail music category." He added, "But the importance of the big box retailers shouldn't be dismissed, as long as the majority of music consumers continue to buy CDs."
The future for physical media sales is looking a tad bleak... let us know in the comments, Neowin; do you prefer to buy digitally, or are you a firm believer in having something you can hold in your hand?
So am I. It really doesn't make sense to buy a whole album, when you can buy the one or two songs that were actually good instead. LOL
Seriously - relax man. I realize iTunes is hardly the greatest software out there, but in reality there is no other software like it.* Oh sure, you have the audio players - Foobar and others - but iTunes is far more than a media player. It's an entire digital distribution platform, and it does that very well. A massive collection of music, video, and movies - a collection that continues to expand. I can open up iTunes on my iPod and download songs directly to it, or I can go onto my computer and download a movie from iTunes and then add it to my iPod.
* I realize the Zune software would offer similar functionality, but I've never used the Zune software to pass judgment on it.
wtf...
These news aren't just being covered by Neowin to promote Apple (which sounds like a ridiculous thought by itself), this is mainstream IT news today, also over at e.g. Ars, which is pretty PC heavy. Go back to drooling at your Windows 7 superbar if you have trouble with Neowin covering the IT industry in general, not just your little bubble.
I wasn't disagreeing that - performance wise - it's abysmal on windows. I can't comment on how it performs on OS X as I've only ever used it on XP and now 7.
Yeap, it most definitely is ghastly on Windows. On OS X it's great, works wonderfully, but that's a given.
but the store is good none the less
need to get rid of DRM though
but the store is good none the less
need to get rid of DRM though
The vast majority of the iTunes library is now DRM free, at least in music terms. Still have DRM on the video content though
Try to stay on topic, as a digital distribution platform iTunes currently has no peer. Amazon has a comparable selection but an awful interface. Emusic, the Zune store front and all the others are sorely lacking in content to even be contenders.
Edit: or and of course a wav/flac file =D
they wouldn't know anything about lossy XD. ignorance is bliss.
Napster's partnership with Best Buy doesn't seem to have helped them much at least not as far as music sales, their subscription revenue maybe up. I haven't really heard much in this regard either way.
Definitely in terms of sound quality too. Even if iTunes offered lossless downloads, I'd still prefer to have a tangible product.
People said the same thing about vinyl, and vinyl covers.
Considering that Napster gives away 5 and zune pass gives away 10 every month (with subscription to the rental service). How are these stacking up? or are they considered rental bonuses and thus don't get mixed in.
Considering that Napster gives away 5 and zune pass gives away 10 every month (with subscription to the rental service). How are these stacking up? or are they considered rental bonuses and thus don't get mixed in.
Considering iTunes crossed the 8 billion songs sold mark in July, and the last rough lifetime sales figure of iPods sold (not sure if this includes the iPhone, but for sake or argument we'll say it does) is 175 million, that comes out to about 45 songs purchased per iPod. Considering not every single person buys from iTMS just because they own an iPod, and many people have owned multiple generations of iPods, that figure doesn't sound all that off. I personally have owned several models of iPod, as has my wife and we own several hundred songs from iTMS, as well as Amazon MP3, but it's clear we are not the norm.
I do believe those give away songs count as sales (the way modern accounting works someone is paying for those "free" songs), but since Napster and the Zune store are overall failures I don't think they add up to much. I just sold my Zune 16GB recently and I can say I never used the Zune store, was buying from Amazon MP3 at that point.
I have a Zune pass and love it. And what do you mean about the new HD "clearly" not being HD???
If you're buying tracks at all you are kind of missing the point of the Zune pass.
Exactly what it says. It does not display HD content on the device, so why call it HD? The xbox 360 is the Xbox HD, although it would deserve the title more than the zune.
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