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CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- Apple(R) today announced that
it has expanded its iTunes(R)
Plus offering to over two
million tracks and lowered the
price of all iTunes Plus tracks
to just 99 cents. All iTunes
Plus tracks feature DRM-free
music with high quality 256 kbps
AAC encoding for audio quality
virtually indistinguishable from
the original recordings (http://www.itunes.com/).
The iTunes Plus catalog is now
the largest DRM-free catalog in
the world, and includes artists
from Sub Pop, Nettwerk, Beggars
Group, IODA, The Orchard and
many others, along with EMI's
digital catalog.
"iTunes Plus
has been incredibly popular with
our customers and now we're
making it available at an even
more affordable price," said
Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president
of iTunes. "We're adding over
two million tracks from key
independent labels in addition
to EMI's digital catalog and
look forward to even more labels
and artists making their music
available on iTunes Plus."
EMI began offering their
catalog on iTunes Plus earlier
this year, and their impressive
selection has grown to include
singles and albums from the
Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd,
Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra and
the solo catalogs of all four
Beatles.
With the expansion of iTunes
Plus, customers can now download
tracks from a variety of labels
without limitations on the type
of music player or number of
computers that purchased songs
can be played on. iTunes Plus
songs purchased from the iTunes
Store will play on all iPods,
iPhone(TM), Windows or Mac(R)
computers, widescreen TVs with
Apple TV(TM), as well as many
other digital music players.
The iTunes Store is the
world's most popular online
music, TV and movie store and
has become the number three
music retailer in the US,
surpassing both Amazon and
Target.* The iTunes Store
features the world's largest
catalog with over six million
songs, 550 television shows and
over 500 movies and has sold
over three billion songs, 100
million TV shows and over two
million movies.
With Apple's legendary ease
of use, pioneering features such
as integrated podcasting
support, iMix playlist sharing,
seamless integration with iPod(R)
and iPhone and the ability to
turn previously purchased songs
into completed albums at a
reduced price, the iTunes Store
is the best way for PC and Mac
users to legally discover,
purchase and download music and
video online.
* Based on data from market research firm the NPD Group's MusicWatch
survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases
equivalized so that one CD equals 12 tracks, excluding wireless
transactions.
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