LONDON, UK (Apple press release) - Apple today launched its revolutionary iTunes
Music Store in the UK, France and Germany giving music fans there the same large online catalogue, a la carte pricing, free previews, one-click purchasing and downloading, and groundbreaking personal use rights that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world.
With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iMix playlist sharing, and breakthrough pricing of just euro 0.99 and 0.79 pounds, the iTunes Music Store is the best way for Mac and PC users in the UK, France and Germany to legally discover, purchase and download music online.
Apple also today announced that it will launch a European Union version of the iTunes Music Store in October of this year. "The number one online music store in the world has finally come to the UK, France and Germany," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With a huge catalogue of over 700,000 songs, breakthrough prices of just euro 0.99 and 0.79 pounds per song and seamless integration with Apple's wildly popular iPod, we think this is the digital music store that Europe has been waiting for."
The iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany all feature over 700,000 songs from all five major music companies and dozens of independent record labels, including exclusive tracks from leading worldwide artists, including songs from Anastasia, Ash, The Beastie Boys, Beginner, Black Eyed Peas, The Corrs, Jamie Cullum, The Cure, The Darkness, Arielle Dombasle, Bebel Gilberto, Herbert Groenemeyer, PJ Harvey, The Hives, Indochine, Norah Jones, Keane, Bob Marley, George Michael, Eddy Mitchell, Moby, Pascal Obispo, The Pixies, Rosenstolz, Seeed, Snow Patrol and Mano Solo.
The iTunes Music Store will be releasing its first ever iTunes Originals in-studio series featuring an exclusive recording session and interview clips with Alanis Morissette. "I am the type of artist who wants to reach a lot of people, and the iTunes Music Store is the best way in the world to do that," said Grammy-award winning singer/songwriter Alicia Keys. "With iTunes, Apple has taken music distribution and promotion to a new level that can be embraced by fans and artists alike."
Offering the same groundbreaking personal use rights as in the US, 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 single 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.
