Ipsos Tempo Digital Music Brandscape study released today indicates that Apple’s iTunes continues to cement its position as the primary fee-based digital music destination, while a number of other services are trying to grow their consumer base and establish points of differentiation.
For many brands awareness was consistent in 2006. For American downloaders aged 12 and older, iTunes saw an increase in both unaided and aided awareness over 2005, rising from 57 percent to 66 percent for total awareness.
Norway and Netherlands Threaten Fines for iTunes
Consumer protection agencies from Norway and the Netherlands have threatened to take legal action against Apple unless iTunes file-sharing limitations are lifted by later this year.
Germany, France Join Crusade Against iTunes
Consumer groups from France and Germany have joined a European coalition aimed at forcing Apple to make files downloaded from its iTunes music store compatible with digital music players manufactured by competing companies.
iTunes Still Far (Really Far) Ahead of Zune.net
Christmas 2006 was another gangbuster for Apple’s iTunes website and all things iPod-associated. Microsoft’s Zune? Not so much. So far, Zune is the GoBot to Apple’s Transformer.
ITunes Sales Dropping
The Register writes that, according to numbers from Forrester, Apple’s iTunes Music Store is seeing abysmal sales, with revenues down 65% since January.
Is iTunes Singing Its Swan Song?
A study conducted by Forrester Research shows that iPod owners are spending increasingly less at the iTunes store, indicating that Apple’s digital music download service perhaps has reached the peak of its growth. Do these figures signal an eminent decline for the iTunes music store?
DRM Spells Trouble for Apple, iTunes
Earlier this week, Yahoo released singles by Norah Jones and Relient K in unprotected mp3 formats as part of an ongoing experiment looking at the viability of offering music tracks that are free of DRM (Digital Rights Management) constraints, which have had audiophiles the world over crying “foul” for quite some time.
Facebook Gives Away iTunes
Facebook is going give away 10 million iTunes music samplers over the next 10 weeks.
Airlines Want iTunes To Take Flight
Instead of hoarding frequent flyer miles for the possibility of getting a free ticket to a holiday hot spot someday, airlines would like to see those travelers use those miles on something far more attainable.
iTunes Under Siege In France
Apple has made a tidy profit on its iPod music player, the only device that can accept music downloads directly from iTunes; the French government wants iTunes to be able to place music on any digital media player.