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iTunes Downloads will Intensify as Offerings hit Critical Mass

thestreet.com — So what happens when Apple's video iPod hits critical mass? And what happens when Apple offers enough video content on iTunes that it hits critical mass? And what happens when Apple's hardware fully integrates into your living room home theater system? We're looking at exponential growth.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 18, 2006

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  • RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can we file this in the "No *****, Sherlock" category? [or make that category for articles like this one]

    If there were a digg in 1920 - they could have posted an article that said "Gasoline consumption will increase as more people buy automobiles."
  • umedone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is the dumbest article ever. All this guy is saying are speculations. I bet he own's a bunch of Apple stocks and is just trying to create some hype. Anyone can write that kind of bull on his blog. I mean, even if this guy's speculations are correct, they are just speculations, no facts, no figures, no nothing.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think before iTunes hits critical we will see smaller sites start to take away some market share. Especially sites that offer a direct link between the artist and the buyer like http://www.audiri.com/
  • neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0more power to the Fruit company
  • Dabellah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0critical mass? according to retailers products will never have a critical mass =P
  • OriginalGamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0iTunes... the hull can't take!!! She's going to blow!! sensors at critical... CRITICAL MASS!!1111 lol Anyway good for Apple hope they succeed
  • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I agree we will see sales explode. I bought a few things before but will be buying every episode of Battlestar Galactica this season. Simply because it's more convenient and the quality is about as good as analog cable, even at the lower resolution in which it is offered.

    Another thing that helps Apple quite a bit is the poor usability of the Google site. There's not as much competition for customers if the Apple site is so much easier to use and the Google store so much more restrictive.

    It's really a shame as I was hoping for an awesome and overall DRM free video store from Google.
  • heinous, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Eight million video downloads... seven hundred and fifty of them Lazy Sunday.
  • bloodyValentine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0iTunes will be the new RIAA, good thing they have that cute logo, they're gonna need it.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Kevinrose dugg this :P
  • lavawalker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hey Cliff, 100th story to the homepage. Congrats.
  • nickzee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1is it just me or this article is stating the obvious. Everybody heard these numbers from the keynote. This article is almosst like a digg sponsored link...Kevin rose could really make some money dumping pointless digg traffic that never clicks on ads and just buries servers. Cheers!
    ///he types while adjusting aluminum hat
  • dannylewis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I know what will happen when iTunes reaches critical mass: iTunes' gavity will allow it to be hot enough to start nuclear fusion. We will have two stars!
  • jholdaway, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If anything is true it will be that as the internet use/downloads grow exponentially, so does storage and bandwidth capacity. The only problem is underestimating demand and not having enough resources. Like with diggnation the moments before cashfly took on the load.
  • jnorris441, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0well Quicktime plays like ***** on my hdtv through video out...
  • atavist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What about the critical mass of all that bandwidth?
  • brydude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0CRITICAL MASS. CRITICAL MASS. CRITICAL MASS.
    How critical is it really?
    What mass will it hold?
    How many times can we say critical mass in a summary?
  • Chaos12, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0OMG NO WAY JOSHER?
  • phunlee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This might sound "smug" but everyday it feels more and more like I backed the right horse. I hope they don't f*&k up.
  • mistshadow2k4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"And what happens when Apple's hardware fully integrates into your living room home theater system?"

    DRM and vendor lock-in on my home theater system? No thanks, Apple. That's why I won't have any of your stuff on my computer; I don't want that crap on my home theater system either.
  • curomo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0iTunes doesn't hit critical mass for me until they get some Led Zeppelin. Period.
  • corkster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0digg for kevin rose
  • FlynnMarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have over 24 hours of video content on my 60gb video ipod. Less then 30gb used. there is no end to the "free" (all your favorite tv shows) content available. Battery technology is a bit behind but once you can get 10 hrs video on a single charge you won't see a road warrior without one of these things. IMO
  • sparty1969, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What a joke. He must own Apple stock. Making the assumption that everyone that owns a video iPod is GOING TO PAY FOR THE CONTENT is a joke. Wake up and smell the Bit Torrent.
  • Berkana, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It doesn't matter that iPods aren't in everyone's hands. What matters is that iPods are in the hands of people with disposable income and broadband connections. If that's a tiny slice of the market (say, 1-3%), that's okay so long as it's the top 1-3%.

    The iPod succeeded in achieving what even superior devices failed at: popularizing mobile video. The trick is an integrated system (iTunes + iPod + iTMS); no other company but Apple was ready to pull that off. Microsoft might have been able to if they would have spent the money they're bleeding out on the X-box on developing their own digital player and music store, but they opted to compete with Sony and Nintendo, whereas Apple hit the market with nearly no competitors. That's the difference. Now, Apple has established primacy, and will not easily relinquish it.
  • CreativeGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I simply don't understand what the fuss is about DRM. Before you flame, it's just my opinion. I buy my music legally from iTMS. I don't care that it limits me (which we all know is easy to get around) to half-a-dozen computers and an iPod. I only use 4 computers anyway (1 at work, my wife's comp, my desktop and my laptop). I only have one iPod. I don't care that I can only burn the same playlist x amount of times. I'm not in the mass repro market.

    In other words, I'm acting legally, so I don't really care. It's the same with the whole iTMS mini-store debacle. Everyone makes such a big deal out of the fact that Apple knows what I'm listening to. Well, Google knows what you're reading based on adsens, I don't hear anyone screaming about that.

    As far as the article. I think he's hit it on the head. It's just plain easier to buy the music legally from iTMS than it is to spend an hour searching and downloading a high-quality version on pirate networks.
  • aptiva, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0valentino: No iTunes won't be the next RIAA. iTunes is a record store, a *store* not an association of recording companies. iTunes can't sue anyone for pirating tunes. Why? because they don't represent the artists.
    now stfu
  • Berkana, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@sparty1969:

    Not *everyone* needs to pay for content all the time to make this profitable; if iPods are in the hands of those with disposable income, then all you need are a core segment of folks who are willing and able to spend a lot on video content to make this profitable. Compared to selling DVD's, there's a lot less overhead. No physical media to ship, no store employees to pay, open 24/7, ancient crap like Knight Rider that would cost money to stock and not make a profit in conventional physical media outlets can now be dug up to make a profit.

    I suspect the folks who buy lots of video content are the same folks who buy multiple iPods each time a new one comes out. And didn't market studies show that something like 7% of iPod owners surveyed used file sharing networks to obtain content? If the average iPod user is honest, then they don't even have to assume that everyone that owns a video iPod will pay--just the vast majority of them.
  • FlynnMarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0of course, this is about itunes not the ipod. I just really love my ipod, sorry
  • ronmexico, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"You can keep your itunes. I'll keep my bit torrent. I already pay an internet connection fee and cable TV subscription charges and the TV license (UK)- so frankly as far as I'm concerned I've already payed several times over for all major TV shows."

    Yeah, I already bought a car and pay insurance so don't expect me to ever buy gas. I'll keep on stealing it.
  • shiftless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0TivoToGo + Videora = Any show on my ipod
  • Tweekster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0what would be great is if they got a decent selection of electronic music, they have very limited numbers of house and trance.

  • jnorris441, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0As long as Bittorrent has higher quality videos, I don't think iTunes will become as popular as he says.
  • BlueCell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When 'legal' downloads get rid of DRM i'll go legal. Bit Torrent for now. I don't like being told what I can and can't do with music i've paid for, thanks.
  • kitykity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ronmexico--that was awesome. :D

    Reason that iTunes will continue to be popular over any "start-up" media content provider, if you will, will be 1-variety of offerings, 2-ease of use, and 3-good prices.
  • shadowsurfr1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If any company was to take over the personal entertainment market, I'd hope that Apple would be the one. Very nice.
  • DeLeon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Odd, ever though this story claims "And strategically for Apple, we're looking at de facto standardization around its video platform. Oh my." The site (thestreet.com) only supports Windows Media...hmmmm?
  • DerTeufel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You should all listen to jkfan87!

    Apple has been kind enough to supply him with subscription numbers for all of the iTunes offerings over the past 4 years.

    Move along! Nothing to see here. This whole iPod, digital downloads thing is just a fad...like the in-ter-net.
  • nickzee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0snore ......
    ZZZzzzzzz
    dont bother with any media center pc or mac if it isnt 64 bit. Just buy something cheap and forget about apples new 32 bit stuff. hold out or you might miss the Leopard gravy train that will fit intel like a glove.
    iPods frankly will drastically change when Apple releases a phone with mp3 capabilities . the ipod line will be split into three products phone/mp3, mp3, and a media player with a wide screen.
    So well see if everything is really saturated in a few years when college students that never bought anything from iTunes will be the "main" consumers these industries thrive on.
  • Abx0r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@nickzee

    Vista will suck, period. I bet within 24 hours of it's official release there will be a virus going around. Don't call me a fanboy or anything, because I don't own a Mac, and I don't use Linux. I use Windows, and I still say it will suck.
  • kherrick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0http://www.allofmp3.com
  • Kirtan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"their download numbers have dropped steadily"

    Your one crazy wanker that has no idea what he's talking about. Word of advice ignore comments from jkfan87.
  • ezkiel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0stocks go up and stocks go down.

    and nickzee: who the ***** cares about 64-bit. XP x64 runs worse and has few x64 apps, its also shoddy as hell. Unless you want to address a ***** of information and have 4gb+ of ram why bother?

    OSX runs just fine regardless of proc being 64bit or not.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0OMG KEVINROSE DUGG IT
  • nickzee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0ezkiel...u know that 64 bit will be the main reason that computer companies will use to push large multinationals to change their computers and conform to the new Win OS....
    when vista gets released in 2008 ...look out (32 bit will be crap)
    Well apple users will feel it next year with leopard....
  • kimastergeorge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0How the hell do we know that it /is/ critical mass?

    Apple will surprise us. They have before, they will again. It's more likely that they will make yo-yos than home entertainment devices.

    Apple isn't innovative. All they do is steal. (Microsoft, and everyone else, too, steals a lot, but Microsoft does a bit of innovating, too.) But Apple puts it in a nicer package, together with more cool things, and makes it more expensive (and therefore luxurious), so more people want to buy it.

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