iTunes — From Jukebox Software to the 99-Cent Music Store

iTunes was music software for the Mac that Apple announced at Macworld Expo in San Francisco on 9 January 2001 and made available as a free download the same day. A single program converted songs from CDs into MP3 files on the hard drive, organised them with search and playlists, and burned custom CDs. Two years later, on 28 April 2003, the iTunes Music Store opened inside it, selling songs for 99 cents each, and iTunes became a place to buy music as well.

All dates are from Apple's press releases.

2001: "jukebox" software

According to the launch press release, iTunes let users import an unlimited number of tracks from CDs and encode them as MP3; organise their collection with real-time search and one-click browsing by artist, album or genre; watch visualisations synced to the music; burn CDs with the Power Mac G4's CD-RW or SuperDrive without extra software; and download songs to MP3 players from Rio and Creative Labs. It required Mac OS 9.0.4 or 9.1 and ran on Macs introduced since August 1998.

Apple called it "jukebox" software. Steve Jobs said in the release that iTunes was miles ahead of every other jukebox application and that he hoped its much simpler interface would bring more people into the digital music revolution.

That October Apple announced the iPod, a product for the Mac used with iTunes 2. At a time when file sharing like Napster was being fought out in court, Apple was assembling tools for converting the CDs people already owned and carrying the music around.

2003: the 99-cent iTunes Music Store

Apple opened the iTunes Music Store on 28 April 2003. Its press release said songs cost 99 cents each with no subscription fee. The store offered more than 200,000 songs from companies including BMG, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal and Warner, with free 30-second previews. Songs were encoded in 128 kbps AAC, and the store was built into iTunes 4, released at the same time. It required iTunes 4, Mac OS X 10.1.5 or later and a credit card with a US billing address.

The store sold usage rights as well as songs: for personal use, buyers could burn unlimited CDs, put songs on unlimited iPods and play them on up to three Macs. Jobs said in the release: "Consumers don't want to be treated like criminals and artists don't want their valuable work stolen." The store, he said, offered a solution for both.

Six months later, on 16 October 2003, Apple released iTunes for Windows and opened the store to Windows users. The release said customers had bought more than 13 million songs in the store's first six months, which Apple called the number one download music service in the world.

2005: the iTunes Music Store in Japan

In Japan the iTunes Music Store opened on 4 August 2005. Apple's press release said it offered one million songs at ¥150 or ¥200 each, for both Mac and Windows users, with iTunes Originals from globe and Ulfuls and exclusives including The Complete B'z digital box set. In the same announcement Apple said the store had sold more than 500 million songs worldwide. The latest version, iTunes 4.9, supported finding and subscribing to podcasts, and the Japanese store launched with Japanese-language podcasts from InterFM, Radio Nikkei and others.

2008-2009: largest retailer, and DRM removed

On 3 April 2008 Apple announced that the iTunes Store had overtaken Wal-Mart to become the largest music retailer in the US. The basis was the NPD Group's consumer survey of music bought in January and February 2008, counting one CD as 12 tracks. The release said iTunes had more than 50 million customers, had sold more than four billion songs and offered over six million.

On 6 January 2009 Apple announced that all four major labels, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independents, were now offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple's DRM-free format with 256 kbps AAC. Eight million of the store's 10 million songs were available that day and the remaining two million by the end of March. Apple also said that from April, based on what the labels charged Apple, songs would cost one of three prices, 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29, ending the single 99-cent price that had run since 2003.

2019: three apps

On 3 June 2019 Apple previewed macOS Catalina and said it would replace iTunes with three new apps: Music, Podcasts and TV. When Catalina was released on 7 October, the Music app handled users' own libraries and Apple Music's catalogue of over 50 million songs, and new music could still be bought from the iTunes Store. On the Mac, the program that began as a way to rip and organise CDs was divided by function.

For the shift from owning music to streaming it on subscription, see the Spotify article.

For the wider story of networks, see the timeline of the internet and the web.