Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPod 500 Millionth Download Promotion
- Thread starter KKKL
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
waltchan said:
Well then I guess that no musical artist or group should ever be offered as a part of a promotional contest for anything because there's always a chance that the winner won't know them and won't understand the phrase back-stage passes for a meet n greet with the band (guaranteed availability) and just throw these passes out.
Oh, I get it that was sarcasm, that's AWESOME!!
Seriously though, anyone who knows enough about the iTMS to not only have their own account, but to also be actively participating in the contest should know who Coldplay is. If they don't, than I'm sure that with the 10,000 songs they win, they'll download the albums and become familiar. I also doubt that anyone who wins this contest won't know what a backstage meet n' greet means and just throw the passes away. If they're not a fan, I'm sure they could find any number of people who are and take three fans with them and all should have a great time.
pardon that I don't think there's a right thread for this...
So what on earth happened with that mystery media event apple was supposed to be having? Wasn't that supposed to be yesterday?
So what on earth happened with that mystery media event apple was supposed to be having? Wasn't that supposed to be yesterday?
The actual downloads seem to spiral around the average song purchase rate in a cyclical fashion. What is it now? 20 songs per second? OMG. I wonder how fat a pipe Apple needs to transfer those many songs.backspinner said:
It's quite spectacular, and iTMS still has a largely untapped market for downloads.Very nice... completely useless, but fun nonetheless!shamino said:
July 7thdontmatter said:
Another thread
It's hard to keep track
I have found that external apps or widgets (see iTMS Estimator , iTunes 500 Million Countdown Widget, and iTunes 500M Widget) often display much different numbers than the ones on Apple's own site. The accuracy seems to fluctuate (sometimes off by several thousand), and I wonder if any of the numbers are truly accurate, and how it would be possible to obtain the accurate number. It must have to do with the way Apple set up their counter on their site, with the Javascript and everything.
BTW, what's up with this: (from section 6 of official rules, "How to Win")
I have found that external apps or widgets (see iTMS Estimator , iTunes 500 Million Countdown Widget, and iTunes 500M Widget) often display much different numbers than the ones on Apple's own site. The accuracy seems to fluctuate (sometimes off by several thousand), and I wonder if any of the numbers are truly accurate, and how it would be possible to obtain the accurate number. It must have to do with the way Apple set up their counter on their site, with the Javascript and everything.
BTW, what's up with this: (from section 6 of official rules, "How to Win")
Does this mean that you can only win one or the other, or just one of each?
Uh... I don't know, maybe because they like listening to music...?
You bring up a very valid point. Music is overrated anyway, y'know? I mean who in their right mind would buy songs? It's not like anyone listens to music anymore... right? Music is going the way of the dinosaur and will be obsolete in 5 years, I guaran-damn-tee it.
Wow! there's that sarcasm again, sorry...
griz said:
You bring up a very valid point. Music is overrated anyway, y'know? I mean who in their right mind would buy songs? It's not like anyone listens to music anymore... right? Music is going the way of the dinosaur and will be obsolete in 5 years, I guaran-damn-tee it.
Wow! there's that sarcasm again, sorry...
Tell a Friend now different
I believe that the 'Tell a Friend' method of entering the contest may be more difficult than in the last promo. After submitting one of these emails there is no longer an option to send another one, a feature that I used quite often last time.
I believe that the 'Tell a Friend' method of entering the contest may be more difficult than in the last promo. After submitting one of these emails there is no longer an option to send another one, a feature that I used quite often last time.
Kal-EL said:
That wasn't my point. What I mean is why would you go buy music simply to enter the contest and have a chance of winning? I had no plans to buy new music before the contest arrived, so I'll just use the "tell a friend" option and save my money. In otherwords, I don't intend on having the contest be an excuse to get me to spend extra money I didn't plan to in the first place.
MacFanatic90 said:
Yes I believe that does mean you can only win one or the other :-(
About your first point, that has really bugged me too -- I dont know how to follow because Apple will have anywhere from 500 - 3000 songs different in there counter then the iTMS Estimator... Anyone know which is accurate?
Well, I wouldn't start buying songs just because of the contest.griz said:
But if I'm planning to buy music anyway, the contest is a good impetus to buy them now instead of in a month or two.
As long as you buy songs you wanted all along, you're not really losing anything.
I understood your point but my sarcasm sometimes gets the better of me, sorry. The point I was trying to make is very similar to shamino's. People are going to buy music regardless of what promotion Apple is having at the time; and having a contest is an added bonus. True it may cause a boost in sales, and that's something Apple is counting on, but the songs I'll buy that coincide with this promotion are songs I would have purchased down the road anyway, perhaps just not this soon. Who knows? Someone may just buy a song for the sake of buying one to try and win the contest, and it's a song they never would have gotten otherwise and they end up actually liking it. Now they have a whole new artist to explore. I can understand if people just want to use the refer a friend because it's free, but buying one or two songs won't break the bank. I'm not talking about spending $100. here. And the bonus is that you get music. It's not like going out and buying 10 bags of Cheetos so you can try and get the complete set of 5 lenticular Star Wars cards. Two weeks from now you'll either have one hell of a stomach ache, or the Cheetos will be stale. Buy a song and you'll have enjoyment for years to come.
Back to your original question and my original answer:
Why would anyone buy songs?
Because they like music (and the contest is an added bonus).
Kal-EL said:
1,000,000,000 60 GB Video iPods with Steve's signature engraved on the backs of them.
$600,000,000,000
I'd be the richest man alive!I don't really like Coldplay.
My drum teacher says that if I ever become a famous drummer I have go give him something awesome and he's a huge Coldplay fan so if I win HE WILL FREAK OUT!
My drum teacher says that if I ever become a famous drummer I have go give him something awesome and he's a huge Coldplay fan so if I win HE WILL FREAK OUT!
autrefois
macrumors 65816
elook said:
Not yet, but I keep looking...
I'm kind of nervous that my notification will end up in my junk mail folder. I've already had a couple times when emails from Apple ended up there. I added a rule a couple weeks ago to try to prevent that from happening, but still I'm going to keep checking just in case.
Lollypop said:join the club iAlan, there are still a lot of people that cant buy from the iTMS! I wish apple would get to a few other countries, there is a lot of songs that im dying to bye!!!
Why can't you buy them on CD, use iTunes to rip them, and then have a nice hard backup for when your hard drive eventually dies? It's actually cheaper in many cases, if you use online retailers, at least here in the USA.
Applespider said:
The problem with that is that you also have to factor in how many other clever people there are also figuring it out, and if they are also factoring you in, etc. Plus, they're not announcing winners right away, nor are they issuing receipts immediately that say sorry, you were n-1, try again.
I'd really love to hear of anyone in the last contest who actually won by means of the email entry option. It exists, yes, but who knows how lagged their mail servers are, or how quickly they compare the inbox against the iTunes servers?
MacHarne said:
I read today at arstechnica that 12,000 iPods got stolen from a warehouse. I think, if they don't recover them all, there's going to be some cheaper iPods in general for a while. Not to mention some of the people with b&w versions of the newly colorized ones may dump theirs.
I don't care, it's nice of them to give stuff away. Though I have to admit I was a spending fool last time, over the idea of a powerbook. iTunes on Windows was my gateway drug, I bought a U2 iPod after being given a well-timed coupon to use with my student discount, and that led to me buying the mini I'm typing on now, also bought with another coupon.
edit: i said 120,000 originally.
12,000 will have a much smaller impact, unless they all go on sale on eBay. But, you know, Apple has all those serial numbers recorded somewhere, I'm sure, so if any stolen devices get registered, wham!