iTunes U downloads top 300 million
Apple's iTunes U is growing at an unprecedented rate, the company announced on Tuesday.According to Apple, its online store's educational section has hit more than 300 million downloads. Currently, more than 800 universities have iTunes U sites, and almost half of those schools, including Harvard University and Oxford University, offer content through the iTunes Store. Apple said that users can now access "over 350,000 audio and video files" through iTunes U.iTunes U, which launched in 2007, has been seeing steady, but somewhat subdued growth since its launch. That's why the company's latest announcement of 300 million downloads is all the more staggering. In December, Apple announced that it had recorded 100 million downloads on content from 175 organizations. Part of the reason for that immense growth could be the recent addition of content from universities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, and Singapore. Plus, since all the content is free to download, the barriers to entry are quite low.
Monday, March 23, 2015
iTunes Ping comes to Twitter
iTunes Ping comes to Twitter
There's a crucial new partnership for Ping, the social music service that Apple launched as part of its iTunes 10 unveiling this summer: Twitter users can now link up their accounts."Once you've linked the accounts, whenever you post, like, review, or tell your friends why you purchased a song or album on Ping, this activity will also be tweeted to your Twitter followers--complete with playable song previews and links to purchase and download music from iTunes," a post on the Twitter blog explained.This is big, because Ping was one of those rare Apple product launches that legitimately underwhelmed, largely because the long-rumored iTunes social-networking initiative did not sync up to either Facebook or Twitter. Apple said at launch that Ping users would be able to sync up with their Facebook friends, something that never came to fruition. Apple CEO Steve Jobs hinted that negotiations with Facebook had soured, citing "onerous terms" on behalf of the massive social network. It's not like Facebook and Apple have never partnered before: Facebook Connect is available for iPhoto uploads, and there's a separate version of the universal log-in tool just for the iPhone.But Twitter's terms are apparently more flexible, and they're even integrating an iTunes song preview into the Twitter.com interface, adding yet another feature to the "New Twitter" redesign that the company launched several months ago.
There's a crucial new partnership for Ping, the social music service that Apple launched as part of its iTunes 10 unveiling this summer: Twitter users can now link up their accounts."Once you've linked the accounts, whenever you post, like, review, or tell your friends why you purchased a song or album on Ping, this activity will also be tweeted to your Twitter followers--complete with playable song previews and links to purchase and download music from iTunes," a post on the Twitter blog explained.This is big, because Ping was one of those rare Apple product launches that legitimately underwhelmed, largely because the long-rumored iTunes social-networking initiative did not sync up to either Facebook or Twitter. Apple said at launch that Ping users would be able to sync up with their Facebook friends, something that never came to fruition. Apple CEO Steve Jobs hinted that negotiations with Facebook had soured, citing "onerous terms" on behalf of the massive social network. It's not like Facebook and Apple have never partnered before: Facebook Connect is available for iPhoto uploads, and there's a separate version of the universal log-in tool just for the iPhone.But Twitter's terms are apparently more flexible, and they're even integrating an iTunes song preview into the Twitter.com interface, adding yet another feature to the "New Twitter" redesign that the company launched several months ago.
iTunes Radio snags 11 million users
iTunes Radio snags 11 million users
Apple's iTunes Radio has already picked up 11 million listeners since its launch last week, Apple announced Monday.Related postsDialed in 110: Lessons for Android (podcast)The 404 Podcast 498: Where Jeff battles the TriadBuzz Out Loud Podcast 1145: China to Google: Suck itNutsie brings iTunes to Android via the cloudThe Real Deal 193: Road Test - CES edition (podcast)Available through iTunes 11 and iOS 7, iTunes Radio takes a page from Pandora's playbook. You can create and add different music stations to your feed based on your tastes and listen to songs streamed from each one. You can fine-tune each station to play only hits, a variety of songs, or a "discovery" of music new to you.Apple also naturally makes it easy to buy any song via iTunes with a price tag that you can click on to make your purchase. So far, the most popular song is "Hold On, We're Going Home" by Drake, according to Apple.iTunes Radio is currently available just in the United States.Apple also announced today that more than 200 million devices are now running iOS 7, while iPhone sales surpassed 9 million during the launch weekend of the new 5S and 5C.Correction, 11:10 a.m. PT: This story originally misstated the number of devices now running iOS 7.
Apple's iTunes Radio has already picked up 11 million listeners since its launch last week, Apple announced Monday.Related postsDialed in 110: Lessons for Android (podcast)The 404 Podcast 498: Where Jeff battles the TriadBuzz Out Loud Podcast 1145: China to Google: Suck itNutsie brings iTunes to Android via the cloudThe Real Deal 193: Road Test - CES edition (podcast)Available through iTunes 11 and iOS 7, iTunes Radio takes a page from Pandora's playbook. You can create and add different music stations to your feed based on your tastes and listen to songs streamed from each one. You can fine-tune each station to play only hits, a variety of songs, or a "discovery" of music new to you.Apple also naturally makes it easy to buy any song via iTunes with a price tag that you can click on to make your purchase. So far, the most popular song is "Hold On, We're Going Home" by Drake, according to Apple.iTunes Radio is currently available just in the United States.Apple also announced today that more than 200 million devices are now running iOS 7, while iPhone sales surpassed 9 million during the launch weekend of the new 5S and 5C.Correction, 11:10 a.m. PT: This story originally misstated the number of devices now running iOS 7.
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