Comments on: iTunes: Now No. 2 in streaming media

By: steve, seattle wa

steve, seattle wa — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:14:34 +0000

media player usage doesn't matter anymore. the money is in the content, not the codec or the software.

By: macdisser,bronx,n.y.

macdisser,bronx,n.y. — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:36:59 +0000

of the number of itunes subscribers will go up if you can only use the ipod with itunes. itunes is the most ill conceived piece of nonsense mediamanagement software i have used. shame on apple for trying to lock me into itunes to use its product. so glad i found winamp and i'm so glad i now use linux. gtkpod forever!!!!!!

By: Mysterius, San Francisco, CA

Mysterius, San Francisco, CA — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:54:19 +0000

In regards to your response to Joe's comment, I also see "Get RealPlayer Free" quite prominently in the upper left box. Try another computer, perhaps?

By: Karl, Seattle WA

Karl, Seattle WA — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:26:56 +0000

I have the same experience as first poster: 2/3 of the top of the front page and a big yellow button "Get RealPlayer Free", goes right to immediate download of the Gold version of RealPlayer 11. It has been like this for a couple of years now.

Maybe a different page is shown for international users, with only the Beta player available.

By: Joe, Seattle, WA

Joe, Seattle, WA — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:38:46 +0000

Funny, I go to Real.com and the largest link in the middle of the page says "Get Realplayer Free" and goes to an immediate download.

ex ped: I go to real.com and see two big yellow Try SuperPass Free (14-day Free Trial) buttons. There's a Get RealPlayer 11 beta — FREE button in the upper right hand corner, but it's less prominent and what it's offering me is beta.

By: mfearing

mfearing — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:05:35 +0000

I think iTunes has a lot of growth ahead of it, as it is by far the most dynamic media interface – rent, but, watch, listen, stream, burn ETC. It took a step forward when WinMedia was still just being a desktop access panel to ONLINE content.

But the big news today are Gartners Mac numbers. Get that post up already!

http://cartoonshmartoon.blogspot.com/

By: John, Halifax, Nova Scotia

John, Halifax, Nova Scotia — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:45:51 +0000

Not relvant to the article, but I wanted to post this on Apple 2.0 and wasn't sure what else to do. My company created a program as part of it's wellness program where staff can use their annual wellness budget (every person gets $125 per year) for an iPod Nano and the wireless Nike pedometer. More than 600 of about 3000 employees signed up within a week – not sure of how big the final number will be (deadline is Feb 8). This all happened without help from Apple – I know this because I work for the VP of HR. Apple wouldn't even return the VP of HR's call. Nike is "watching interestedly", but they are not sponsoring the program. The program was totally internally conceieved. If Apple embraced this, the might sell millions of incremental units and get some brand appreciation by helping people get healthy.

By: Jim Demers, NY NY

Jim Demers, NY NY — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:54:51 +0000

"Market share" is rather a misnomer here, as a single "unique user" can be counted twice, or three or four times, if he or she downloads more than one file type. (I suspect that this is true of just about everyone, actually!)

A better correlation to market share would be found in the number of files transferred. The number of terabytes could be used, but would be skewed toward video by the relative file sizes.

Finally, a question: Where does YouTube fit in?

By: John, Minneapolis

John, Minneapolis — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:24:28 +0000

"with a better than 75% market share." Not according to your chart. WinMedia has 75 million unique users out of the approximate total – according to your chart – of 150 million. That's 50% market share.

ex ped: Right you are. I'll correct that now. Thanks.

By: rattyuk, Ft Myers, FL

rattyuk, Ft Myers, FL — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:13:22 +0000

So as iTunes is driven by Quicktime surely these numbers should be added together? Poor analysis.