Apple to offer iTunes downloads on any device

CD sales plummeted in 2008, so Apple has agreed to let people copy iTunes onto any device, not just their iPod.

Beginning in April, most songs will now cost 69 cents, but more popular hits will be 99 cents or $1.29, depending on demand. Albums will cost around ten dollars to download.

Steve Boone, writer and performer of many popular songs including “Do You Believe in Magic” and “Summer in the City” spoke positively of Apple’s new changes, from both sides of the spectrum. “I’ve seen my royalties from sales of Lovin’ Spoonful Records go up, and go up as a direct result of file-sharing and internet downloading.”

He also enjoys the changes as a fan of other musicians. He said, “As a consumer of music myself, I now have access to a library of songs that would be impossible to find at a conventional record store.”

As technology changes, the music industry fears sales will go down. Boone said that’s why Apple, the world’s largest music catalog, was hesitant to take away copy protection laws. “When the cassette recorder came out, the industry tried to stop that, on the notion that it would cut record sales, and it did exactly the opposite, it boosted record sales.”

He said the industry had the same fears about file sharing, but again, the opposite is happening. “When more people download, more people become familiar with the artist and the more they become familiar with the artist, the more they want to buy more of their work.”

With cheaper prices for certain songs, more consumers may be inclined to buy; iTunes used to cost a standard, 99 cents, but now prices will fluctuate, depending on popular demand.

Favorite iTunes can be transferred to anything that can play them.

As Boone said, everyone’s covered. “The artist has their needs and the record company has their needs. But it’s also important to realize the fans have their needs too. So I think this current decision by Apple is a good decision because it enables everybody to be part of the play. And it makes it so everybody’s happy at the end of the day.”

You can upgrade your entire library of previously purchased songs so you can copy them onto another device, for 30 cents per song.

By the end of March, all 10 million songs on iTunes will be offered “digital rights management” or DRM free, meaning you can copy them on anything you want.