Itunes

Since iTunes was launched in January 2001, it has been one of the most used applications to download music, television shows, applications, audio-books, and many other forms of digital media from the internet. It was launched as a closed systems digital store, to supply music to the Apple iPod. unfortunately for Apple(and the music industry in general.) many people found ways around this and downloaded free music via file sharing programs. The iTunes application has been highly successful regardless, and is one of the most convenient ways to access digital media, with millions upon millions of files available.

iTunes was first introduced on January 9, 2001 by Apple Inc. at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. It was based on a programmed named SoundJam MP distributed by a company named Casady and Greene. Apple purchased this platform in 2000 and added a few key components. Out of this iTunes was born. up to now there have been 13 versions of iTunes released over the last decade, each one bringing new features to the application. The original iTunes was designed specifically for the MAC OS 9.1 operating system, but that ended with the third edition. Later additions would contain new features such as the Itunes store, smart playlists, a ratings system, and the new "home share" feature which allows enables automatic updating of purchased albums.

iTunes has developed much since it first came out. I remember when I first purchased an iPod several years ago. It came with a disk that contained the iTunes application. this was version 4 where the iTunes store was first introduced. I remember it being so crude, compared to the new version that I was able to download when I purchased my newest iPod. In fact a disk version of iTunes was not even neccessary as now the iTunes application can be downloaded from the companies website. It is also significantly more difficult to put non copyrighted music onto an iPod. With my old 4 gigabyte nano it was simple to bypass the Itunes application and put uncopyrighted music directly onto an iPod. Now you have to go to far greater lengths to accomplish this feat.

Entertainment Industry

The entertainment industry has a wide range of topics. They include:Radio, Print media, television, music, film, electronic games, Internet services, and sometimes cell phone subscribers. I know Itunes is a big factor when it comes to music. When this topic was brought up in class. The professor ask, who can remember the last time they bought a CD? Only a few raised their hands. 40 percent of music was bought online and 21 percent worldwide.

It has gotten to the point where you don't have to buy the music. They have websites such as, limewire, frostwire and many more to download music. Realistically, people can download any type of media. Whether its videos, pictures, movies, software. A lot is available on the internet and at this point and time, its only getting better as technology progresses.

A big debate is who's next to be greatly effected? First it was music; then print media. Personally, I think the radio will be effected the most. Everything else has been accounted for due to websites like limewire and movie sites.

Apple Domination ?

Apple had a break through when they came out with the iPod. They dominated the scene of mp3 players and music downloading. I remember when the iPod came out my brother told me I didn't want one becuase you couldn't even put music from your CDs onto the mp3 and you could only buy the music you wanted on it off of iTunes. I don't know if that was ever true, but Apple did have the only copy protection software that is compatable to to iPod.

I have an iPod now and I love it. Before I had an iPod I had a Creative Zen. It was huge, mainly thick and I used windows media player to download the music. The Zen lasted about a year before it decided to die for no reason, and my sister had the exact same one and it did the same thing.

With the iPod the iTunes is convient because you can look up music and download it on spot, then hook up your iPod and it will sync the new songs automatically. In the book it compared the iTunes store to online music stores like Rhapsody and Napster. With the Rhapsody you pay a monthly fee to download all the music you want. The downside to it is that the music stays on your computer, so you can't burn them to a CD. That could be a downside to people if they want music in their cars and like to play CDs.

One of Apple's iPod competetors is the Zune by Microsoft. I know people who have these and they love them. They are simple and small like the iPod. Now it's up to the customers to pick which product they like better. That is the way a company will get ahead, by the appeal to the market. Each product out now seems reliable, but it's about teh company behind it. Both Apple and Microsoft know what they're doing, but for now Apple is ahead of the game with the MP3 products.