ITunes Store

iTunes Store
The iTunes Store, as seen in iTunes 12.12.7.1, running on Windows 10 from January 31, 2023
TypeDigital distribution
Online music store
Video on demand
App store (moved to App Store)
Ebook store (moved to Apple Books)
Launch dateApril 28, 2003 (2003-04-28)
Platform(s)macOS
iOS
tvOS
Windows 7 and later
AvailabilitySee Internationalization
Websiteapple.com/itunes/

The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 TV shows, and 65,000 films. When it opened, it was the only legal digital catalog of music to offer songs from all five major record labels.[1]

The iTunes Store is available on most Apple devices, including the Mac (inside the Music app), the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod touch, and the Apple TV, as well as on Windows (inside iTunes). Video purchases from the iTunes Store are viewable on the Apple TV app on Roku[2] and Amazon Fire TV[3] devices and certain smart televisions. Unlike other Apple media services such as Apple Music or Apple TV+, there is no web-based interface for the iTunes Store with the exception of limited iTunes Preview pages; the desktop application has to be installed to browse the store.

While initially a dominant player in digital media, by the mid-2010s, streaming media services were generating more revenue than the buy-to-own model used by the iTunes Store.[4][5] Apple now operates its own subscription-based streaming music service, Apple Music, alongside the iTunes Store.

  1. ^ Langer, Andy (September 10, 2014). "Is Steve Jobs the God of Music?". Esquire. Hearst Communications. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  2. ^ "Apple TV is now available on the Roku platform". Roku, Inc. October 15, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  3. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (October 24, 2019). "Apple TV app launches on Amazon Fire TV devices". The Verge. Vox Media.
  4. ^ "Apple May Finally Shutter iTunes, But the iTunes Era Ended Long Ago". Variety. June 2019.
  5. ^ "The rise and fall of iTunes, Apple's most hated app". The Verge. June 3, 2019.