PRESS RELEASE
June 23, 2004
iTunes Music Store in Europe Sells 800,000 Songs in First Week
CUPERTINO, California—June 23, 2004—Apple® today announced that music fans in the UK, France and Germany have purchased and downloaded more than 800,000 songs from the iTunes® Music Store since its launch one week ago, with more than 450,000 sold in the UK alone. With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features, personal use rights and breakthrough pricing of just €0.99 and £0.79, the iTunes Music Store is the best way for PC and Mac® users in the UK, France and Germany to legally discover, purchase and download music online.
“After selling over 800,000 songs during its first week, iTunes is Europe’s top online music store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “In the UK alone, iTunes sold more than 450,000 songs in the last week—16 times as many as OD2, its closest competitor.”
The iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany offers over 700,000 songs in each country, a la carte pricing and seamless integration with Apple’s wildly popular iPod®. Exclusive tracks from leading worldwide artists including the Pixies, Alicia Keys, Anastacia and Herbert Gronemeyer have been among top selling artists during the store’s first week.
“By distributing our first new song in 13 years exclusively on iTunes, we were able to quickly and inexpensively make it available to millions of fans in the United States and Europe,” said Ken Goes, manager of the Pixies. “One week after its release, we are thrilled at the response from iTunes users that have helped to make Bam Thwok a top seller across four countries.”
The iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany gives users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods. The iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany offers Mac and PC users the same innovative features including:
- “iMix,” an innovative way for users to publish playlists of their favorite songs on the iTunes Music Store for other users to preview, rate and purchase. iMix creates a virtual iTunes community, enabling users to discover new music recommended by fellow music fans and rate the iMixes published by other iTunes users;
- “Party Shuffle,” a playlist that automatically chooses songs from a user’s music library, displays just-played and upcoming songs, and allows users to easily add, delete and rearrange upcoming songs on the fly. Party Shuffle is the ultimate DJ at any gathering and a great way for users to get reacquainted with their personal music library;
- More than 5,000 audiobooks which can be purchased with one click and listened to on any Mac or Windows computer as well as on iPods. iTunes is the only digital music jukebox that allows users to seamlessly purchase audiobooks in the same easy way that they purchase music;
- Instant registration on the iTunes Music Store for AOL Europe customers using their existing screen names and passwords with direct links to buy songs from the iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany. Exclusive recordings from Sessions@AOL and AOL’s Broadband Rocks will be available on the iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany later this month;
- The ability to create and print stunning CD jewel case inserts for albums or compilation discs, combining album art and track lists using professionally designed templates. For compilation CDs, iTunes will automatically generate a mosaic of album covers based on the chosen songs; and
- Automatic WMA to AAC conversion, enabling Windows users to automatically create iTunes versions of their songs encoded in unprotected WMA. Converting an entire music library into iTunes and syncing it onto iPod is now a snap.
Pricing & Availability
iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from www.apple.com/uk/itunes, www.apple.com/fr/itunes and www.apple.com/de/itunes. Purchase and download of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid credit card with a British, French or German billing address. The iTunes Music Store works with the British Pound in the UK and the Euro in France and Germany.
iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from www.apple.com/uk/itunes, www.apple.com/fr/itunes and www.apple.com/de/itunes. Purchase and download of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid credit card with a British, French or German billing address. The iTunes Music Store works with the British Pound in the UK and the Euro in France and Germany.
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- Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Mac, Mac OS, iTunes and iPod are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.