Apple Introduces iTunes for Windows
Hell has frozen over, according to Apple. The iTunes Music Store made its official Windows debut Thursday in a grand opening furnished with promotions galore.
The pomp and circumstance surrounding Apple's move into Windows territory exceeds even the store's own groundbreaking foray into online music last April. Turning the music world on its heels once again, Apple has teamed up with America Online and Pepsi to deliver melodies to the masses.
iTunes for Windows sports a look and feel identical to its Mac OS X counterpart. It natively supports iPod integration and sharing of music between Mac and Windows computers, with Rendezvous support.
Together with Pepsi, Apple will give away 100 million free songs to Mac and Windows users. Starting February first, the cola magnate will begin seeding random 20-ounce and 1-liter bottles of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Sierra Mist with winning codes redeemable for one free music download on the iTunes Music Store.
Never one to understate its hip brand image, Pepsi, which is also planning to give away one billion dollars in an unrelated contest, will publicly announce its partnership with Apple during the Super Bowl.
Musing on that point, Apple CEO Steve Jobs remarked, "This historic promotion to legally give away 100 million free songs will go down in history as igniting the legal download market. Pepsi has marketed their products through music for generations, and this is going to be another one that is remembered for decades."
Meanwhile, approximately 25 million AOL users will be one click away from registering for the service later on this year. AOL Music will begin to share content with iTunes in an effort to promote artists, albums, reviews and preview the hottest new singles. The iTunes music library currently holds over 400,000 downloads ranging from the industry's best known labels, to over 200 independents.
Sources tell BetaNews that work on AOL Media Player and Winamp will continue despite the partnership with Apple. A beta version of Winamp5 recently made an appearance online. "It's allowing AOL to bring something to market quickly," said the source. It is unclear what will happen to AOL's current MusicNet subscription offerings.
"Marketing will be a key differentiator among the different services," Joe Wilcox, senior analyst for Jupiter Research, told BetaNews. "Apple's deals with AOL and Pepsi should not be underestimated. At the same time, Apple benefits from iPod's continued strong sales and lack of comparable devices supporting WMA."
"Still, as the early leader, Apple has the most to lose. AAC format plays on iPod. Microsoft claims 40 portal devices support WMA with the DRM enabled," said Wilcox.
Napster, once the focal point of the music industry's ire, crept back from obscurity earlier this month when it previewed a beta of its version 2.0 software offering legal music in WMA format. Napster's library of music out weighs Apple's by roughly 100,000 songs.
Microsoft's Media Center Edition 2004 relies on Napster as one of its central avenues for music downloads. At the same time it has partnered with Napster in the United States, Redmond has tested the waters across Europe on behalf of its own Windows Media music service.
E-Data, a small New York firm, has since alleged that Microsoft's sale of music in Europe infringes on a decades old patent it holds.
"Some of the other Windows services are hedging their bets, offering a la carte sales alongside subscription services," says Jupiter's Wilcox. "While consumers clearly want to purchase music, Jupiter Research believes subscription services will offer better revenue. Right now, both ala carte and subscription services are viable businesses. So, Apple is only capitalizing on part of the opportunity."
Since the inception the iTunes Music Store, competition has heated up across the board. Late last month, industry heavyweight Dell announced its intention to stake out a piece of the emerging market for legal music downloads. The store, outsourced to MusicMatch, will vend music downloads on demand at a price mirroring Apple's 99-cent fee.
In addition, Dell's store will pair music downloads with the Dell DJ, an iPod-like portable music player. Software will also analyze playlists to make recommendations for future music purchases. Thus far, Dell is the only other vendor other than Apple to offer end to end services - from point of sale to portable playback.
Success has not come without a price for Apple. The company's sale of iPods and the establishment of the iTunes Music Store, provoked Apple Corps -- holding company for the Beatle’s music collection -- to rekindle earlier litigation over copyright infringement.
In the 1980's Apple had to dish up $26 million, and promise not to enter into the music business. But Apple is determined to keep up shop.