iTunes Music Store — 28 Apr 2003

Steve Jobs launched Apple's new music service the "iTunes Music Store" which will allow you to download music for USD 0.99 a song (128Kbps AAC format). The store is accessed through iTunes 4 in the same way you browse your own Library. 30 seconds free preview, cover art are among the features. The store holds some 200K songs, with unlimited CD burning for personal use.

As an effort to prevent piracy, you must change your playlist every 10 burns (?) and you may share your music with a maximum of 3 other Macs (at one time). Not a word on the software used to monitor all this.

Share your playlists, stream your music from one Mac to another (remember iCommune ?), although copying is not supported.

Jobs also introduced a bunch of new cool iPods (10 to 30Gb, revamped UI, FW port underneath, cradle and direct access buttons) - available as from Friday.