PRESS RELEASE
October 16, 2003
Apple Launches iTunes for Windows
Second Generation Online Music Store Available Today for Mac & Windows Users
MARKHAM, Ontario—October 16, 2003—Apple® today launched the secondgeneration of its revolutionary iTunes® Music Store for both Mac® andWindows users. The new iTunes Music Store offers Windows users the sameonline music store that Mac users love�with the same music catalog, the samepersonal use rights and the same 99 cents-per-song pricing. Since its launchsix months ago, music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 13million songs from the iTunes Music Store, making it the number one downloadmusic service in the world. With music from all five major music companiesand over 200 independent music labels, the iTunes Music Store catalog isgrowing every day and will offer more than 400,000 songs by the end ofOctober.
“The iTunes Music Store has revolutionized the way people legally buy musiconline, and now it's available to tens of millions more music lovers withiTunes for Windows,” said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. “While our competitorshaven't even come close to matching our first generation, we're alreadyreleasing the second generation of the iTunes Music Store for Mac andWindows.”
Apple offers the unbeatable combination of the award-winning iTunes digitaljukebox software, the pioneering iTunes Music Store and the market-leadingiPod™ digital music player, providing music lovers with a seamlessexperience for buying, managing and listening to their digital musiccollections anywhere. Windows iPod users can now use their iPod with theaward-winning iTunes digital jukebox software and enjoy the best digitalmusic experience on any platform. iTunes for Windows includes all the samegreat features that made it the best digital jukebox software for the Mac—afree download with no hidden charges for extra features, MP3 and pristinequality AAC encoding from audio CDs, Smart Playlists, over 250 free Internetradio stations, and the ability to burn custom playlists to CDs and MP3 CDs,burn content to DVDs to back-up an entire music collection and share musicbetween computers via Rendezvous™ over any network, cross-platform.
Apple today also announced an online music alliance with America Online toprovide instant, one-click registration to the iTunes Music Store for AOL'smore than 25 million U.S. members starting later this quarter. AmericaOnline will integrate links to iTunes artists, albums and songs throughoutits leading music site, AOL Music, which will give AOL members the option tolink directly to the specific iTunes Music Store page to preview and buymusic as they browse and read music news and reviews. Apple will offerselections of AOL's popular, original content such as Sessions@AOL andBroadBAND Rocks! through the iTunes Music Store.
The new iTunes Music Store features exclusive tracks from more than 60artists, including new exclusive tracks announced today from Black EyedPeas, Mary J. Blige, Coldplay, The Eagles, The Grateful Dead, Ben Harper,Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah McLachlan, R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Sting and LutherVandross. The iTunes Music Store also debuted today a new Celebrity Playlistfeature with personal playlists created by several popular featured artistsincluding Michelle Branch, Dave Brubeck, Billy Corgan, Counting Crows,Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Ben Folds, Herbie Hancock, Jack Johnson, Kenna,Wynton Marsalis, Moby, Mark Ronson, Seal, Sting and Michael Stipe. Inaddition, the new iTunes Music Store features album reviews, artistbiographies and essentials lists of must-have albums for artists.
The new iTunes Music Store offers another industry first—Apple's innovativeand patent-pending online “Allowance” feature which allows parents toautomatically deposit funds into their kids' iTunes Music Store accountevery month. This is the first time that parents can provide an alternativeto illegal file sharing to their children. The new iTunes Music Store alsooffers online gift certificates that can be sent to friends and family viae-mail to give the gift of music to anyone.
In another pioneering move, the new iTunes Music Store now offers more than5,000 audiobooks which can be purchased with one click and listened to onany Mac or Windows computer as well as on iPods. iTunes is the only digitaljukebox that allows users to seamlessly purchase audiobooks in the same easyway that they purchase music. iTunes audiobooks are encoded with superioraudio quality and feature New York Times bestsellers and popular publicradio programs from NPR and PRI. In addition, the iTunes Music Store offersexclusive content not found digitally anywhere else, including “WhippingMek,” an original story by Brian Herbert and bestselling novelist Kevin J.Anderson that bridges the Legends of Dune trilogy novels “The ButlerianJihad” and “The Machine Crusade.”
The iTunes Music Store continues to offer Apple's legendary ease of use,making it the easiest way to discover, purchase and download music onlinefor both Mac and Windows. Users can easily search the entire music store toinstantly locate any song by title, artist or album, or browse the entirecollection of songs by genre, artist and album. Users can listen to free30-second previews of any song in the store, then purchase and downloadtheir favorite songs or complete albums in pristine digital quality. Songscan be burned at no extra cost onto an unlimited number of CDs for personaluse, played on up to any combination of three Mac or Windows computers, andlistened to on an unlimited number of iPods.
Pricing & Availability
iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is availableas a free download immediately from www.apple.com/itunes. Purchase anddownload of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows isavailable in the U.S. only and requires a valid credit card with a U.S.billing address. The iTunes Music Store requires a Mac equipped with iTunes4.1 and Mac OS® X version 10.1.5 or later or a PC equipped with iTunes 4.1and Windows XP or Windows 2000. Further information about Apple's digitalmusic products can be found at www.apple.com/ca/ipod andwww.apple.com/ca/itunes.
iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is availableas a free download immediately from www.apple.com/itunes. Purchase anddownload of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows isavailable in the U.S. only and requires a valid credit card with a U.S.billing address. The iTunes Music Store requires a Mac equipped with iTunes4.1 and Mac OS® X version 10.1.5 or later or a PC equipped with iTunes 4.1and Windows XP or Windows 2000. Further information about Apple's digitalmusic products can be found at www.apple.com/ca/ipod andwww.apple.com/ca/itunes.
Apple Canada Inc. is headquartered in Markham, Ontario and is a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of Apple Computer, Inc. Apple products are available at morethan 450 Authorized Apple Canada Dealer locations across Canada.
- © 2003 Apple. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Mac,Mac OS, iTunes, iPod and Rendezvous are either registered trademarks ortrademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks oftheir respective owners.