Give the Gift of Music


I just left the telecast of Steve Jobs' presentation at Moscone Center and Sarah McLaughlin was performing her second number. I was extremely pleased to see that in addition to a version of iTunes for Windows, my prediction for the independent labels came true. Apple has signed 200 independent record labels to the iTunes Music Store, which means that we can now buy music from new up-and-comers like The White Stripes. But Steve announced a lot more this morning too.

Jobs also announced that the iTunes Music Store will now be integrating Audible.com audio books so that users can now search for and buy audio books right in the music store. Apple and AOL are also integrating iTunes Music Store links into AOL's online music service, so that AOL users can click a link next to a song or artist and it will take them right into iTunes and the Music Store. AOL claims that their online music service has an average of 16 million users, so that's a real nice boost for iTunes.

There were also some hardware announcements, but not of Apple products. Two joint ventures between Apple (software) and Belkin (hardware) were announced that bring some new capabilities to the dockable iPods. First was a little box that attaches to the iPod and lets one make voice recordings. The second device let's digital photographers insert storage cards from their cameras and store digital photos on the iPod. When the user sync's the iPod with the Mac, the photos stored there will be automatically imported into iPhoto.

Apple has also provided parents a way to set up an iTunes account for their children and then fund the account with a monthly music "allowance." This was touted as a way for parents to ween their children away from illegal downloads. And there's a lot of new exclusive content from many artists on which everyone will be wanting to spend their allowance, including The Grateful Dead, whose music is available only in the iTunes Music Store.

But one of the most exciting new features for me was the addition of iTunes Gift Certificates. You can now buy gift certificates in various denominations and send them to friends and family via e-mail. I have several Windows friends to whom I'm always bragging about how great iTunes Music Store is. What a great way to introduce them to this new music buying experience and evangelize Apple at the same time! I'm going to go buy a couple right now!

Posted: Thu - October 16, 2003 at 11:45 AM          

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