Happy Birthday iTunes

    The iTunes Music Store, my first taste of Apple, turns one today; and its parent company celebrated by releasing an update (v4.5) as well as a firmware revision (v2.2) for the iPod. I’m actually looking forward to getting home and downloading the upgrade.
    First off there’s word of a free download each week on iTMS (every Tuesday). I gather this feature premiered with a free Foo Fighters song today. This alone won’t send me speeding home, but I\’m sure I’ll end up hoarding plenty of free weekly songs just for the sake of it.
    I’m more intrigued in the new Apple Lossless Encoder. I consider myself an audiophile, so any way to maintain sound quality is fine with me. I might even end up re-ripping some of my orchestral CDs. It would be even better if Apple sold their downloads in this lossless format. The record companies’ have been grumbling about raising download prices as much as $2.49. Selling high-quality downloads might even justify such a huge price hike, rather than simply making the companies look like the greedy bastards they are. (It would be even better if people start BitTorrenting U2 concerts in this format too!)
    Another feature struck me as quite humorous. Some users have been clamoring for WMA capability on the iPod. Rather than acquiesce to the encroachment of Microsoft, Apple reacted by creating a WMA to AAC converter, to purify WMA files before being allowed on iPod turf. Very cute.
    All in all, congratulations to iTMS on their first year. They’ve gathered 700,000 songs, sold 70 million downloads, and have 70% of the market. Plus that titanium-styled program (aka application) has not only come close to redeeming my cold pirating heart, it has insidiously led me toward a brave new Windows-free world.