Apple Launches iTunes Store Selling 99-Cent Songs

2003

Apple launches the iTunes store, the first widely successful legal music download app, thanks to the emergence of the iPod, which lets people take their music with them. At first, the service is available only to Mac users, with the music files encoded in Apple's proprietary format (AAC) restricting where they can be played.

Steve Jobs makes the official presentation of iTunes 4 on the stage at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco while wearing his famous black turtleneck, jeans, and New Balance sneakers. For the first time, we can now legally download individual songs without paying for the whole album - and whether it's the latest hit from Ludacris or a John Denver album cut from 1974, it's the same price: 99 cents. Record labels are eager to stanch the bleeding from Napster and other file-sharing services, but have been reluctant to enter agreements for downloads as they pine for the good ol' days of $18 CDs. Apple finally brings them on board, signing enough labels to build an impressive library - if the song you're looking for isn't by The Beatles or Led Zeppelin, there's a good chance it will be there. Apple also streamlines the hardware connections of previous iPod versions and creates a "One-Click" purchase option. Easy and legal. Public reaction is not without its detractors. Because of music licensing complications, the Apple Music Store is initially open only to US users, and all purchases require a stored credit card. The songs are embedded with a sharing and copying restriction technology called FairPlay, utilizing digital rights management (DRM), which causes problems when users try to play the songs on different computers and devices. Anyone used to Napster is accustomed to unrestricted MP3 files. The store launches with over 200,000 songs for sale with free 30-second previews. Bob Dylan, U2, Eminem, Sheryl Crow and Sting partner up, sweetening the pot by offering exclusive releases. According to Apple, they sell one million tracks in the first five days, highlighting their assertion that iTunes is the solution to stop illegal downloading and filesharing. Over one million Windows users download iTunes when it launches in October 2003, and by December 15, 2003, Apple announces that it has sold 25 million songs.