iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 150 Million Songs

I just checked, and I have 46 songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. However, at least 1/3 of those were from the Pepsi promotion, thus were free. Could be as many as half were free, though, to be honest.

I feel really bad about it, but while I do purchase songs from the iTMS, I also purchase them from AllofMP3. My reason for purchasing from All isn't because of how much cheaper they are - it is because I can get 320kbps AAC files from there, while I get 128kbps AAC files from All. If Apple could offer different bitrates on their songs, I'd purchase more of them legally. Of course, I don't forsee the music industry being okay with that unless we get some serious DRM going on.

I still download songs but I've been buying actual CD in stores a lot now. I've been catching up with a lot of OLDER albums that I missed growing up.

I have not used iTUNES though. I've seen some of my friends use it and it seems interesting but I don't think I'd be paying for the singles...I I really like a song, I'll download it. I might end up liking it so much, that I'd buy the album...

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Originally Posted by EMAGDNIM

I have not used iTUNES though. I've seen some of my friends use it and it seems interesting but I don't think I'd be paying for the singles...I I really like a song, I'll download it. I might end up liking it so much, that I'd buy the album...

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BTW, iTunes is the music playing application. iTunes Music Store is the thing that lets you pay to download music.

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Originally Posted by lithium

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.

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Well really... iTunes Music Store's selection is the greatest out of all available music services. Unless of course you're looking for Macy Grays "Walk This Way" or Los Lonely Boys. :/

Seriously though, I know what you mean, iTunes doesn't have the greatest selection in the world, but it is the most CONVIENENT.


Convienent
Conveinent
Convenient

HOW THE HELL DO YOU SPELL THIS WORD?!

convenient...sound it out.

Personally, I could never see myself purchasing a single song, no matter how good it is.

New iPods just released. Color screen PhotoPod. Looks very nice.

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Originally Posted by Mman

Personally, I could never see myself purchasing a single song, no matter how good it is.

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Why not?

I people should get paid if you have and enjoy their song, unless they specifically are giving the song away. And, yes, I know that I already said that I purchase songs from Allofmp3, where the money doesn't go back to the artist. That's why I can't bitch at people for not downloading songs for free.

I do think, however, that people SHOULD be paying for downloading songs, and that people should be able to go online and purchase songs. I don't like that we still very much live in a world where your options are (a) buy a CD for one song or (b) pirate the music. The more and more option C becomes viable, the better off we are.

And while this is very optimistic, and maybe naive, maybe the way technology is working will allow us to get to the day where all artist just put their stuff up online directly, and when I pay my $1 for the song, a majority of it goes to them. I'd love for that to happen.

I also hope that when iTMS Japan comes out, that it features a lot of Japanese music, and that some way for us people not living in Japan to purchase music from it is found. The online J-pop scene is full of illegal downloading, because otherwise you're looking at paying $10 for a single (which could even only contain one song) or $30 for an album before shipping or whatnot. Legal online downloads would bring samples so that you aren't just buying CDs blind, far cheaper prices, and the ability to offer Japanese music to Americans where selling it in stores would never, ever work.

Why not? Well, I might be a snob, but if an artist cannot make an album that is at least somewhat enjoyable then why should I support them for their one song. Not to mention if it is popular I can just turn on my radio to hear it. I also like the idea of "albums" being a sum of their whole, not just a collection of songs. Downloading individual songs just fuels this idea.

I also do not like the idea of downloading music legally because I do not see how in anyway this is benefitting the artists. I might simply be confused here, but they are not being payed anymore through this means, right? But recording companies save on money because it is all digital. That really does not add up.

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Originally Posted by Mman

I also like the idea of "albums" being a sum of their whole, not just a collection of songs. Downloading individual songs just fuels this idea.

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Almost every album in itunes is available as a whole for $9.99 or less, and is often a good $3-4 cheaper than buying the album by the song. For many jazz albums where each song is too long to warrant a .99 price tag, they are only available as an entire album purchase.

The downside is some albums can only be purchased by getting the individual songs and even worse many albums are incomplete (like Jamiroquai's "A Funk Odyssey" which I just bought 5 minutes ago, it's missing the first 3 songs).

psst...im not talking 'bout downloading an entire album. I am talking about downloading an individual song.