Tag: iTunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as the iTunes Music Store, and has been the most popular music vendor in the United States since April 2008, and the most popular music vendor in the world since February 2010. It now offers over 28 million songs, videos and apps for sale online. The iTunes Store’s revenues in the first quarter of 2011 alone totalled nearly US$1.4 billion; by October 4, 2011, the store had sold 16 billion songs.
While most downloaded files initially included usage restrictions enforced by FairPlay, Apple’s implementation of digital rights management, iTunes later initiated a shift into selling DRM-free music in most countries, marketed as iTunes Plus. On January 6, 2009, Apple announced that DRM had been removed from 80% of the entire music catalog in the U.S. Full iTunes Plus availability was achieved on April 7, 2009 in the U.S., coinciding with the introduction of a three-tiered…