Apple tops 5 billion mark in iTunes sales

When the iTunes Store was first introduced (hey, remember when it was called the iTunes Music Store and all you could buy were DRMed music tracks? Those were the days) I thought people wouldn't spend much money there. Sure, it was pretty and easy to use but people don't want DRM laced music, thought I. Clearly, as with many things in my life, I was totally wrong. Apple just announced that people have downloaded over 5 billion songs from iTunes (notice they say 'downloaded,' and not 'bought.' This number includes all those freebies we list, as well as any promotional freebies Apple hands out with partners). Any way you slice it, that's a lot of songs.

Apple also said that people are renting and downloading over 50,000 movies a day. Not too shabby, given the greater expense and file sizes involved with movie transactions on iTunes.

Thanks, Cameron!

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Source: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/19itunes.html

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When the iTunes Store was first introduced (hey, remember when it was called the iTunes Music Store and all you could buy were DRMed music...

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Fisk

Is there any data on how many iPods Apple sold until today?

Would be most welcome for my term paperâ€¦

Thanks!

June 20 2008 at 4:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Austin Chu

Apple rules. I work for a company that manages and tracks gift cards, and we blogged about the 5 billion mark as well on savvywallet.com. One thing that I've noticed, is that itunes gift cards sales are still going strong. With Apple's new multi use gift card holder, who knows what numbers they will hit. Even though, itunes has some restrictions, people don't mind. You don't necessarily pay for the song, you pay for the service and quality of Apple products. itunes rules.

June 19 2008 at 9:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rickumus

Great! Now wake me up when thy update the Mac mini.

June 19 2008 at 8:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ryan

Sad thing is, there are too many consumers out there who have no idea what DRM means, so they just bought the music without knowing. If consumers were wise, maybe the sales number wouldn't be so high.

June 19 2008 at 12:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Ryan's comment

Gordy

If consumers felt restricted, they would have noticed. As I suspected way back when, Apple's FairPlay DRM is pretty flexible.

June 19 2008 at 2:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

frank

i agree with Gordy. i know exactly what DRM is, and i don't feel restricted by apple's setup at all.

June 19 2008 at 3:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Matthew

I meant 5 billion, not million!

June 19 2008 at 10:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mike