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Use of iTunes Music Store Up 247 Percent

MONDAY JANUARY 23 2006 5:34 PM

Submitted by WilWheaton. Edited By WilWheaton.

Nothing makes me feel like I'm in my thirties quite like talking to some teenager who owns four thousand songs, but has never bought a CD in their life.

Welcome to the age of the iTunes Music Store, enjoy your stay.

According to Neilsen Research, traffic to the iTunes Music Store grew from 6.1 million to 20.7 million in 2005.

"Consumers have clearly indicated that they are eager to control their own music libraries, one song at a time," said Jon Gibs, director of media analytics at Nielsen NetRatings.

As well as looking at raw user numbers, Nielsen NetRatings also tried to find out who those users were.

The research revealed that teenagers aged between 12 and 17 years old made up a disproportionately large group of iTunes users. They were more than twice as likely to visit the music store than any other population group.

The survey also noted that iTunes Music Store customers were 2.2 times more likely to drive a Volkswagen than any other car. They also discovered that iTMS customers liked to drink cider and imported beer. So I guess that on the road of life there are passengers, and teenaged drunk drivers.

36 Comments

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Skank_Zero

Chicago, IL

December 2005

JAN 24, 2006 03:16 AM

TheRedBaron said:

zenFish said:
I love my iPod... never used the iTunes store... why? I love buying CDs, having that package, and being able to always have a solid 'backup' in case I lose my iTunes libarary somehow...

Hell, eventually I'd like to start getting records.

I agree. I really like having something to hold in my hands, rather than some fleeting string of ones and zeros, and the vague idea of having purchased the 'right' to listen to it.

I'm with you guys on this one. If I'm spending the money for music in the first place, there's just something about getting a tangible copy that seems much more worth it to me. Plus I'm a sucker for liner notes. I have a 6 gig mini, and there's no way I can fit all the cds I own onto it, so I still listen to those as much as the digital music anyway. Hell, most of what's on my ipod are cds that I ripped.

JohnClement

Silver Spring, MD

January 2004

JAN 24, 2006 04:09 AM

kremlock said:
The saddest people are the ones who dumped all their cd's onto their iPod and consequently sold all their discs. Oops.

I did that. It bit me in the ass when my library was wiped out.

Mike

Titusville, FL

OLD SKOOL

JAN 24, 2006 08:07 AM

bean said:

Ska_Boss said:
Does anyone else think that $.99 for a song is kind of a rip off?

No, I think $18 for a CD with packaging I'm going to throw out anyway is not only a rip off but a collossal waste of resources by comparison.

I think they are both a rip off.
But I like to own entire CD's, not just one or two songs off of it.
The $.99 wouldn't be so bad if they had better deals on buying the entire CD. I think $10 for the entire CD (no matter how many songs) would be fair.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JAN 24, 2006 09:41 AM

Mike said:

bean said:

Ska_Boss said:
Does anyone else think that $.99 for a song is kind of a rip off?

No, I think $18 for a CD with packaging I'm going to throw out anyway is not only a rip off but a collossal waste of resources by comparison.

Most albums I've bought from iTMS have been $10-11 regardless of the number of songs. The Clash's London Calling Collector's Edition (with a zillion demo and live tracks) cost about half what it was going for in the store when I picked it up.

eviltwin2

Brooklyn, NY

May 2005

JAN 24, 2006 08:00 PM

After reading this article I am puzzled why they only mention audio/songs where it was in 2005 that iTunes supported video. Remember we are talking about visits, so this includes people who are looking for movie trailers, or downloading the latest episodes of Lost.

I'd like to see a break down of that increase to see what video contributed to the increase of the audience. It certainly did for me - I never downloaded music from iTunes. But now that I can have the few TV shows I actually watch on my computer with the commercials edited out is worth it to me.