iTunes Music Store in Europe Sells 800,000 Songs in First Week

Apple continues to trounce the competition, with the new iTunes Music Store for Europe rolling out simply huge numbers in just its first week of operation.

iTunes Music Store in Europe Sells 800,000 Songs in First Week

CUPERTINO, Calif., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Apple® today announced that music fans in the UK, France and Germany have purchased and downloaded more than 800,000 songs from the iTunes® Music Store since its launch one week ago, with more than 450,000 sold in the UK alone. With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features, personal use rights and breakthrough pricing of just euro 0.99 and pounds Sterling 0.79, the iTunes Music Store is the best way for PC and Mac® users in the UK, France and Germany to legally discover, purchase and download music online.

“After selling over 800,000 songs during its first week, iTunes is Europe’s top online music store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “In the UK alone, iTunes sold more than 450,000 songs in the last week – 16 times as many as OD2, its closest competitor.”

The iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany offers over 700,000 songs in each country, a la carte pricing and seamless integration with Apple’s wildly popular iPod®. Exclusive tracks from leading worldwide artists including the Pixies, Alicia Keys, Anastacia and Herbert Gronemeyer have been among top selling artists during the store’s first week.

“By distributing our first new song in 13 years exclusively on iTunes, we were able to quickly and inexpensively make it available to millions of fans in the United States and Europe,” said Ken Goes, manager of the Pixies. “One week after its release, we are thrilled at the response from iTunes users that have helped to make Bam Thwok a top seller across four countries.”

The iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany gives users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods. The iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany offers Mac and PC users the same innovative features including:

– “iMix,” an innovative way for users to publish playlists of their
favorite songs on the iTunes Music Store for other users to preview,
rate and purchase. iMix creates a virtual iTunes community, enabling
users to discover new music recommended by fellow music fans and rate
the iMixes published by other iTunes users;
– “Party Shuffle,” a playlist that automatically chooses songs from a
user’s music library, displays just-played and upcoming songs, and
allows users to easily add, delete and rearrange upcoming songs on the
fly. Party Shuffle is the ultimate DJ at any gathering and a great way
for users to get reacquainted with their personal music library;
– More than 5,000 audiobooks which can be purchased with one click and
listened to on any Mac or Windows computer as well as on iPods. iTunes
is the only digital music jukebox that allows users to seamlessly
purchase audiobooks in the same easy way that they purchase music;
– Instant registration on the iTunes Music Store for AOL Europe customers
using their existing screen names and passwords with direct links to
buy songs from the iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany.
Exclusive recordings from Sessions@AOL and AOL’s Broadband Rocks will
be available on the iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany
later this month;
– The ability to create and print stunning CD jewel case inserts for
albums or compilation discs, combining album art and track lists using
professionally designed templates. For compilation CDs, iTunes will
automatically generate a mosaic of album covers based on the chosen
songs; and
– Automatic WMA to AAC conversion, enabling Windows users to
automatically create iTunes versions of their songs encoded in
unprotected WMA. Converting an entire music library into iTunes and
syncing it onto iPod is now a snap.

Pricing & Availability

iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from www.apple.com/uk/itunes, www.apple.com/fr/itunes and www.apple.com/de/itunes. Purchase and download of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid credit card with a British, French or German billing address. The iTunes Music Store works with the British Pound in the UK and the Euro in France and Germany.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

NOTE: All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Mac, Mac OS, iTunes and iPod are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Source: Apple Computer, Inc.

CONTACT: Liz Einbinder, +1-408-974-8466, or leinbinder@apple.com, or
Derick Mains, +1-408-974-6264, or dmains@apple.com, both of Apple