Given that the word “iPod” has become synonymous with “portable music player,” it’s easy to overlook other Apple-related music matters in 2007. Yet the year brought significant changes to the musical landscape in regard to online music distribution and digital rights management. And in most cases, Apple was at the heart of them.
iPod developments—and there were a few this year—will get their moment in the spotlight later in the week; today, we’ll focus on other matters musical, including the death of DRM, the emergence of an iTunes rival, and the ability to buy digital tracks without having to set down your Starbucks frappuccino.
Macworld Expo: iTunes sales, Apple TV, and iPhone
Apple entered 2007 riding a continued wave of strong sales at its iTunes Store—a point Steve Jobs made clear during his keynote at January’s Macworld Expo.
“There was an article recently that said iTunes sales have slowed dramatically,” Jobs told Expo attendees. “I don’t know what data they’re looking at. What we see is iTunes sales were really up this year.” According to Jobs, Apple doubled the number of songs it sold in 2006, selling more than 5 million songs a day.
“Isn’t that unbelievable?” Jobs said. “Fifty-eight songs every second.”
During that same Expo keynote, Jobs showed the general public the Apple TV, Apple’s set-top box for playing and streaming music and video to a TV and AV audio system. Originally slated to ship in February, the Apple TV finally hit store shelves in late March. Although the device could play music purchased from the iTunes Store (as well as any music stored in your iTunes library), you couldn’t buy music directly from the Store via the Apple TV. And as 2007 draws to a close, you still can’t.
Oh, and then there was some mention of a video iPod, Internet communications device, and mobile phone.
http://www.macworld.com/article/131288/2007/12/2007music.html?t=229
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