iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 150 Million Songs

iTunes Music Store - 150m Downloads and Growing...

A couple of weeks ago Apple announced they have currently had 150m downloaded songs off of their wildly successful iTunes Music Store. No other online music label has been able to acheive this. This is huge for the music industry, which was in a financial slup from late 2002 and 2003. People are starting to finally embrace the legal market of online music, and they are purchasing singles and albums in droves.

So here it is: do you people pay for your music these days? Since you basically have the whole world at your fingertips, do you just steal your music?

I'll be the first to say that I still download music. I don't own a credit card, and when I want music, I either download the single or go out and get the album. If I feel the artist is deserving of my money, THAT is when I go out of my way to purchase their album. I think that is fair, personally. It's my way of evaluating my purchases before I actually make them. I love music. I love listening to music. I want to support this industry, and I think the iTunes Music Store is a step in the right direction.

Do any of you use the ITMS and what are your feelings on it? Do you think .99 is too steep for a song, or $10.00 for an entire album? Input, people!

This is nice, but its sad that the RIAA is continuining to criminalize music fans. So I mean, what now? Ive been pirating music since day one and Ill tell you, its harder and more of a pain in the ass than ever. And more people are buying music online than ever. Yet they are still treating music fans like thugs and criminals.

Its kind of like how the MPAA is saying that Kazaa will kill their business and then 10 minutes later they talk about how the movie industry is making more money than ever.

The RIAA are the bad guys.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by diffusionx

The RIAA are the bad guys.

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They're super intimidating to a guy like me. I'm a pussy. I don't like associations that need to be abbreviated.

The FBA
The RIAA
The MPAA
The RIA

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iidx Nick

They're super intimidating to a guy like me. I'm a pussy. I don't like associations that need to be abbreviated.

The FBA
The RIAA
The MPAA
The RIA

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The BET...

Although I used to pirate music, all currently in my possession are legal. I really don't have time to pirate stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iidx Nick

The FBA
The RIAA
The MPAA
The RIA

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The TNL
The NAMBLA

I still steal.

If I download something I'm most likely to buy it off itunes. Once in a great while ill try to nab it illegally, but that's usually just because itunes's selection is not so great.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by diffx

This is nice, but its sad that the RIAA is continuining to criminalize music fans. So I mean, what now? Ive been pirating music since day one and Ill tell you, its harder and more of a pain in the ass than ever. And more people are buying music online than ever. Yet they are still treating music fans like thugs and criminals.

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There's about a lifetime's worth of irony in these sentences.

Still stealing. 90% of my music would be hard to find on most sites, plus I am poor so I just keep DLing. I want to actually purchase most of the music I get, I just cannot afford it, so I keep finding more music to spend my money on when ever I get it. It is a fucking vicious cycle.

I only "steal" music to see if I want to go out and buy whatever single/ep/lp I'm interested in. I buy everything I download and like, but not necessarily right away.

I never buy from online services like iTunes or Napster or anything. I prefer to own the actual music CD, rather then just a copy of a song I could get for free. I like having a large CD collection, versus a large music file.

I think that the RIAA was really effective with their huge scare legal battles. There are now a lot less people downloading illegally than their were 2-4 years ago.

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Originally Posted by Tones

I think that the RIAA was really effective with their huge scare legal battles. There are now a lot less people downloading illegally than their were 2-4 years ago.

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Not only that, but surveys conducted show that most people think the RIAA is actually a government organization. Of course, thats the image theyve been subtly trying to cultivate.

Seriously, theyre the bad guys. A few years ago people were predicting the end for them, considering they were taking the hardline stance and failing to embrace new technology. Then Apple came along and saved them with a sweetheart deal. Now the RIAA isnt gonna go anywhere because they can strong-arm online distributors the way they do brick and mortars (I think the only company to stand up to them wrt CD prices and win was, yep, Wal-Mart). But Apple claims they arent making any money off iTMS, and the artists certainly arent getting a bigger cut than they used to.