I will never give up the iTunes Music Store. Here’s why.
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
Getting into digital music 25 years ago consisted of two things. If we weren’t illegally downloading songs via Napster, Limewire, Kazaa, or any of the other file-sharing programs, we were ripping CDs to our computers using a program like WinAmp or MusicMatch. Both were serviceable, but could make it tricky when managing your music library.
Then, on Jan. 9, 2001, Steve Jobs announced iTunes, which was trumpeted as the “world’s best and easiest to use jukebox software.”
Version 1.0, adapted from an earlier program called SoundJamMP that Apple had purchased and refurbished, was a sleeker version of WinAmp and its brethren. Initially, it was just a Mac product, but it was extended to Windows users in the fall of 2003.
By then, the iTunes Music Store had opened (born April 29, 2003), allowing people to buy complete, virus-free digital files of 200,000 songs from major labels for 99 cents each.
Things only got bigger from there. Labels realized that digital music was the future, and Apple by far offered the best option. More songs were added to the store. Digital rights management locks were eventually stripped away. Fans no longer had to buy the full album if they wanted just that one song.
Within a few years, the iTunes Music Store had cornered the market on digital music with a global market share of 70 per cent, making it the internet’s de facto music store.
