iTunes turns 10

by Tyler Munro

April 26, 2013

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The iTunes application was launched in 2001, but its store, which for better or worse has completely altered the music industry landscape, came out a few years later. More specifically, it was unveiled on April 28th, 2003, making this Sunday its 10th birthday.

Not ones to let a milestone pass them by, Apple’s celebrating the big day with a new ten-year timeline unveiled in the iTunes store, one which bookmarks some of its biggest accomplishments and shows top charts for every year since launching. Here are some highlights: On April 28th, 2003, the store launched. By September 8th, it had sold ten million tracks, and once the infamous silhouette TV ads started airing a month later it was smooth sailing. By March of 2004 the store had sold 50 million songs. 9 months later, that number jumped to 200 million, and so on and so forth.

Love it or hate it, the iTunes store have been burdens or benefits as the omnipresent be-all and end-all for music consumers since its launch. It’s been the compliment to some of the best selling devices of its era (iPods, iPhones and iPads) and it has almost completely compartmentalized digital consumption. Competitors have come, gone, returned, changed and left again and still, with riotous complains about layout changes and resource hogging, consumers keep coming back. That’s because for all its flaws, and there are many, iTunes is innately usable. It just works., and that’s all the average consumer can ask for. Do artists get the fairest cuts from sales? Nope, but that hasn’t stopped people from consuming songs on iTunes in droves. On February of this year, the iTunes store passed 25 billion song sales. We’d expect that number to keep climbing. Check out Apple’s iTunes timeline in full at the in-app store.

Tags: Music, News, itunes

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