Itunes Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

App Store hits 50 billion apps downloaded

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (May 15th, 2013)

Shortly before 5 PM ET, Apple officially hit the 50 billion-app mark on the App Store. The grand prize for achieving this is a US$10,000 gift card redeemable on the App Store and $500 App Store gift cards to the next 50 customers following that. We'll let you know the winners as soon as they're ...

New Daft Punk album Random Access Memories streaming on iTunes

by John-Michael Bond (May 13th, 2013)

The wait is over. Random Access Memories, Daft Punk's first proper album* since 2005's Human After All, is now streaming in its entirety over at iTunes. It features guest spots and contributions from Chilly Gonzales, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas and others. While the album ...

Microsoft: Apple reluctant to build a "Metro" iTunes for Windows 8

by Dave Caolo (May 10th, 2013)

While Microsoft has invited Apple to produce a Windows 8 iTunes app, Cupertino's response has essentially been "don't hold your breath." Speaking to CNNMoney, Microsoft's chief financial officer Tami Reller said, "The welcome mat has been laid out [for Apple]. It's not for a lack of trying." Note ...

Apple posts 50 billion app countdown

by Yoni Heisler (May 2nd, 2013)

The race to 50 billion is on. Just about a week after Apple announced that the App Store had crossed 45 billion downloads, Apple has decided it's high time to launch an official countdown towards the 50 billionth downloaded app. The lucky winner will receive a $10,000 gift card redeemable on the ...

Talkcast tonight, 7pm PT/10 pm ET: iTunes store turns 10, quarterly results

by Michael Rose (Apr 28th, 2013)

It's a big 1-0 for everyone's "favorite" music store, which has evolved far beyond its humble Rip, Mix, Burn origins to become the digital hub for a new generation of digital devices. Happy birthday, iTunes Music Store, and here's hoping that you make it out of your adolescence wiser and more ...

Mike Doughty's musical 10th birthday gift to iTunes Music Store

by Kelly Guimont (Apr 25th, 2013)

Mike Doughty, a singer/songwriter (formerly of Soul Coughing) and now an indie artist, was asked by Yahoo Music to write a song celebrating 10 years of the iTunes Music Store. Not content to put yet another spin on the standard birthday song, this became an ode to drunken iTunes purchases (I ...

Apple celebrates 'A Decade of iTunes' with interactive timeline

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 24th, 2013)

Apple is celebrating "A Decade of iTunes" with a cool interactive timeline in the iTunes store. The timeline pulls out milestones for iTunes each year. For example, on September 7th, 2005 it says "iPod nano replaces iPod mini and goes on to become the bestselling music player ever." Each year ...

Apple adds 'Download Later' option for large media files on iTunes

by Yoni Heisler (Apr 22nd, 2013)

Macworld is reporting that Apple added a welcome tweak to large media purchases initiated either via the mobile iTunes Store or iTunes 11. Users attempting to download large media files such as movies or music box sets are presented a prompt enabling them to commence the download immediately or ...

iTunes maintains its music download dominance as Amazon plays catch-up

by Yoni Heisler (Apr 17th, 2013)

Nearly 10 years after the iTunes Music Store first opened up for business, iTunes remains the market leader in digital music downloads. According to a research report published by the NPD Group earlier this week, iTunes accounted for approximately 63 percent of all digital music downloads in ...

Parenting tip: Refill your iTunes balance using your spare change

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 17th, 2013)

If you have an iTunes account for your children and are looking for an easy way to keep their balance replenished, look no further than the loose change sitting on your counter. It only takes a trip to your local grocery store and a few minutes of your time to turn your change into an iTunes ...

Rockstar shares the Grand Theft Auto soundtracks on iTunes and Spotify

by Mike Schramm (Apr 12th, 2013)

Rockstar, the developers of the very popular Grand Theft Auto series, has kindly set up playlists for every one of the series' radio stations, for use in both iTunes and Spotify. The GTA series is well-known for its music, and when Rockstar ported both GTA3 and GTA: Vice City over to iOS, we ...

Bump removes ability to share iTunes tracks in latest update

by Mike Schramm (Apr 11th, 2013)

We see tons of app updates come through the App Store every single day, but it's very rare that one of those updates removes functionality rather than adds it. The latest update for Bump for iPhone does exactly that, unfortunately. Bump is an app that came out very early in the App Store's ...

Starbucks changes free app downloads program

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 10th, 2013)

Starbucks has announced a change to its iTunes Pick of the Week program. Previously, the program offered cards in stores with a redemption code for an app, song, book or TV show. Customers could take a card and redeem an iTunes code on back for the free giveaway. The updated program will let ...

iOS App Store accounts for nearly 75% of mobile app download revenue

by Yoni Heisler (Apr 9th, 2013)

A new research report from Canalys took a look at the four leading mobile app stores -- Apple's App Store, Google Play, BlackBerrry World and the Windows Phone Store -- and came away with some interesting data. During the first quarter of 2013, Canalys found that the number of worldwide ...

Google explains why iTunes search results were missing in action

by Yoni Heisler (Apr 3rd, 2013)

As of Tuesday morning, searches for iOS apps on Google weren't resulting in overt links to Apple's iTunes Store. Direct links to apps on iTunes appeared deeper within Google's search results than usual. Reports of the quirky search results were first made public on Facebook by AppsFire ...