iTunes Reviewer's Comments

With almost an 80% market share in the digital music market, our “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award” winning service, iTunes Music Store, has set the standard in digital media. iTunes Music Store has more music titles and genres available than any other music service we've seen. The service also offers a strong feature set, including an integrated music player, in-depth information on artists and albums, music videos, audiobooks, movies, television shows and games

iTunes is a free software application for Mac and Windows that you must first download, then use to find and buy songs. Most music downloaded from iTunes Music Store comes in an .m4p/.aac format that only plays on the iTunes Digital Jukebox or on an iPod. Although Apple is in negotiations with the music studios to open their file formats, their current selection of MP3 DRM free music is limited; however, all tracks are $.99, regardless of their format. We sincerely hope in the future iTunes downloads will be compatible with more MP3 players.

 

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MP3 Music Selection:  

iTunes Music Store offers an unbeatable music selection, larger than every other service we've seen with over 6 million titles. While browsing through its 20 genre categories, plus various categories including collections, Starbucks lists, iTunes Latin and more; you can find almost any kind of music imaginable. Also, whenever you log into the service, iTunes updates you on all the latest music titles added to the store. There is no limit on how many iPods purchased songs can be transferred to. 

Search Capablities:  

Searching for music at iTunes Music Store is straightforward and simple; the website offers searches by Artist, Song, Album and even Composer. You can also browse the store's selection by genre if you don't have a specific artist or song in mind. 

Feature Set*:  

Besides offering every feature we felt should be standard for music download services, iTunes Music Store has a couple of cool extras, like a screen that shows music news, new artist info and the ability to make custom printed insert covers for CDs you create.

In addition to music downloads, the iTunes Store also has music videos, audiobooks, movies and television programs.

Unfortunately, you must use the iTunes Digital Jukebox or an iPod to take advantage of this service.

Download/Setup:  

Individual tracks cost $.99 and entire albums are usually about $9.99

Like most music download services you have to create an account. The iTunes application that is required to use the store is easy to use, but it does take a few minuets to download. We do not suggest using this or any other music download service if you still have a dial-up connection; the music files are just too large to download.

Each time you login, the store updates you on the latest music and artists they've added to the collection; this takes a bit of extra time. Once you get around to downloading a song, the process is fairly easy and the music sound files are CD-quality. 

 

Help/Support:  

The help and support available for iTunes Music Store is among the best in the industry. We found their technical support excellent and their step-by-step tutorials helpful. iTunes Music Store does not offer FAQs directly in the application, you have to go to Apple.com. 

Summary:  

iTunes is king, plain and simple. They offer the largest selection of digital music on the Internet, and more features than any other service we reviewed. However, we can’t wait until the day all the music they offer can play on devices other than iPod.