“There is a music revolution happening right now.”
Steve Jobs, 2001 Macworld expo. Retrieved from here.
Apple introduced iTunes on this day in 2001 at the Macworld expo.
At the time, iTunes was significantly simpler than it was today; the iTunes Store was still two years away from release, and the iPod similarly in the future. It was designed mostly as a digital jukebox, allowing people to rip music from CDs, listen to them on their computers, create new playlists with them, burn them to new CDs, and other similar functions.
iTunes was not the first program of its kind to be released; Steve Jobs even stated they were a bit behind in their release. In fact, it wasn’t even fully an original program so much as it was a repackaging and reworking of an original program, Soundjam MP, which Apple had recently acquired (along with its developers). However, as the program was designed to be simple and user-friendly, making it a quick hit.
A low-quality video of the full announcement is available from YouTube here.
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Post Sources
- https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2001/01/09Apple-Introduces-iTunes-Worlds-Best-and-Easiest-To-Use-Jukebox-Software/
- https://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/01/01/08/apple_acquires_soundjam_programmer_for_imusic
- https://www.macworld.com/article/3019878/15-years-of-itunes-a-look-at-apples-media-app-and-its-influence-on-an-industry.amp.html
- Edit on 2021-01-09: Optimized for new site.