Today we’re celebrating the 12th birthday of an application that changed how we consume media. When it first debuted in 2001, no one would know how big of an impact iTunes would have on the music and TV industry.
Apple didn’t create the first version iTunes as it purchased the software when it was named SoundJam MP in 1999. Now every iOS user relies on iTunes to manage their devices, although iCloud is slowly weaning iOS users away from being tethered to iTunes.
What started as a simple media manager for Apple’s iPod turned into a full fledged media manager for music, television shows, movies, and apps. iTunes helped move the music industry forward by selling songs as singles instead of forcing people to buy entire albums. Initially, music purchased through iTunes included anti-piracy software called FairPlay, which was a form of digital rights management (DRM). Steve Jobs wrote a public letter in 2007 about how DRM didn’t work and hurt the consumer. From henceforth, DRM for music was dead. Unfortunately, DRM still exists for TV shows and movies purchased through iTunes.
Apple completely redesigned iTunes 11 to be faster and easier to use. Still, iTunes is beginning to look a bit dated as competitors, like Spotify and Rdio, offer affordable music subscriptions that work across platforms. It seems that the software that began the digital music revolution has fallen behind.
