Apple's 500 Million Songs 418
Paul H. writes "Apple is giving away an iPod Mini and a 50-song gift card to whomever purchases every 100,000th song on iTunes, until they reach 500 million downloads. The person who downloads the 500 millionth song wins 10 free iPods, a gold 10,000-song gift card, and 10 additional 50-song gift cards for the iPods. To top it off, the winner gets 4 first row Coldplay tickets with back-stage passes."
Finally... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Finally... (Score:3, Informative)
I hope you cashed in your credits and downloaded those songs already because if not, they expired.
There's a new promotion on 40oz (or is it 33oz?) Slurpee cups at 7Eleven until the end of this month. Have at it.
Re:Finally... (Score:2, Informative)
10 free ipods???? (Score:3)
I'd gladly trade in the extra 9 for more songs.
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2)
or a Mac.
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2)
They will be soon. Who wants to buy a PPC Mac now?
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:5, Funny)
I HAVEN'T HAD A DATE IN 6 MONTHS!
Date me, win an ipod! (Score:5, Funny)
Go on a date with me, win an ipod.
Re:Date me, win an ipod! (Score:3, Funny)
I wonder if you have to complete a certain amount of "offers".
Re:Date me, win an ipod! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2)
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2)
Let's see 2700 > 10000. Ah yes, my work is done.
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:3, Insightful)
Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
Explain how.
Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
Woohoo!
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2)
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2)
For more songs? Over, say, a free iBook?
The last time I checked, questions of legality and morality aside, you can download songs from P2P. You cannot, however, download a free iBook from P2P.
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, the proper Slashdot response is "Finally, I can make a Beowulf cluster of iPods", or Cool, now I can stripe them together for a fast yet tiny battery powered web server!
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:2)
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:5, Informative)
With CDs the best case is that I order it from amazon.com and get it a few days later, along with 10 other tracks on the disc which I may or may not want. Worst case, I have to drive to the store and stand in line to pay.
iTMS wins the convenience and simplicity battle hands-down.
I never resell CDs, they just aren't worth enough to make it worth the bother. With iTMS tracks I don't waste space on storing physical media I never use.
Re:Have you tried AllOfMP3.com? (Score:5, Informative)
In short, I have very little desire to give my credit card information to a Russian outfit that is violating both international and local Russian laws.
Re:Have you tried AllOfMP3.com? (Score:3, Informative)
Then just get a disposable debit card at your bank. Mine offers them with no fee. A $10 debit card costs $10 (not $11.00 like a gift-cheque would). I can get one as low as $5 and up to $500.
There are also credit card companies that offer disposable one-use CC numbers for on-line use. Just tell them how much of your available credit you want, and they
Re:10 free ipods???? (Score:5, Interesting)
I do. But mainly through Pepsi/Mountain Dew and 7Eleven promotions.
I don't like buying CDs because often times, I only want one song. Buying that one song online "rewards" the artist a little, but definitely more than downloading that same song via a P2P network. Buying music online also will hasten the demise of the CD, and hopefully increase the strength of Apple to negotiate the fees the RIAA charges, or ultimately cuts the RIAA/labels out since artists would not longer need those middle-men if all music were commercially available online. Buying the CD only props up the RIAA's business model with sales statistics. Plus, I listen to music through my iPod, and it seems like every music label is trying to thwart the person's legal right to back up their media purchase and/or convert/transfer the music over to a more portable digital format such as MP3, OGG, or unencrypted AAC (FLAC, ALAC, etc.).
Hmmm (Score:2, Funny)
Realistic side... sees attempt to drum up more sales.
Re:Hmmm (Score:2)
Realistic side... sees attempt to drum up more sales.
That's the problem with commerical business, just about every "promotion" like this Apple iPod contest is just another way to increase sales or to increase brand recogntion. There really is no free lunch in the commerical marketplace.
Re:Hmmm (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hmmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmmm (Score:5, Funny)
Realistic side... sees attempt to drum up more sales.
That's because you're outside of the Jobs Reality Distortion Field(tm). If you were inside it (where you're *SUPPOSED* to be) you would in fact see this for what it really is - a selfless attempt by Apple to bring about world peace.
Come. Join is. Everything is happy here. And made of white plastic - which is a bonus.
Free Entries (Score:5, Interesting)
No purchase necessary (Score:5, Informative)
No, it'd just be following the law. In the United States, giveaways like this have to be on a "no purchase necessary" basis so as not to run afoul of federal and state gambling laws.
Re:Free Entries (Score:3)
a) the qualifying purchases of the last 100,000 downloads (I believe freebies aren't counted as purchases, but they count for the total downloaded)
b) all e-mails sent in during the time span of the last 100,000 downloads.
That's the impression I got from reading the rules. It doesn't say that the 100,000th person wins, but that there will be a winner for every 100,000 purchases.
Re:Free Entries (Score:3)
"Prize will be given away for the 480,100,000th Entry, 480,200,000th Entry,
Also:
"For the 500 millionth Entry, the winner will receive the Grand Prize. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner. "
$0 marginal cost (Score:2)
Just something to remember. I'd rather win something tangible like a house.
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:3, Funny)
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:2)
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:5, Funny)
I could give them to my girlfriend, but she works for the music industry and gets her music for free
The true slashdotter in me doesn't know if I should hate you for sleeping with the enemy or just plain hate you for sleeping with a member of the opposite sex.
You would have made my life a lot easier if you were sleeping with a male indie-artist who got screwed over by a RIAA company.
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:3, Funny)
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:3, Insightful)
Besides, in things like this it isn't the value of the prize to the company that is important, it is the value of the prize to the winner or game-players that matters. Clearly you don't care and therefore you are not their target audience with this event.
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:4, Insightful)
The marginal cost to Apple may be small, but 10,000 songs are still 10,000 songs, and they're worth something to you, assuming you listen to music. The music's pretty tangible.
The marginal cost may be zero, but the amortized cost is not. They can't give you the next song without having paid for the servers, the software, the music studios, the advertising, etc.
If your goal is not so much to have stuff as to make make sure you're socking it to the guys giving you the prize, well, I'm sure Apple is very sorry. If you write to jobs@apple.com, he'll send you a gift certificate to be redeemed for a free iTunes song ($.99 processing fee applies.)
(And just for reference, contests with a house as a prize rarely actually give away a house. If you read the rules closely, you'll find that you can take cash instead. Nearly everybody takes the cash.)
IRS is the real winner (Score:4, Insightful)
If I won, I would have to forefit the prize because there is NO WAY I could afford to pay the taxes on it.
Now, if Apple were to be giving away a car, I could at least borrow money to pay the taxes, then sell the car to pay off the loan, and keep the balance for myself. There's not much I can do with $9900 of "free" music.
Bastards. I hope this leads to an iTunes boycott.
very ignorant (Score:4, Funny)
In fact, I'm so ignorent that I misspelled "ignorant".
I think it's time for a break...
Sell the songs on ebay (Score:2)
Re:$0 marginal cost (Score:2)
What do you do with ten iPods? (Score:4, Funny)
2. Beowulf cluster
3.
4. Profit!?
Seriously though, you'd run out of people you felt close enough to to give them an iPod before you ran out.
And I think 10,500 songs counts as a lifetime supply.
Re:What do you do with ten iPods? (Score:2)
Stain them with vague images that look sort of like the Virgin Mary, and sell the on eBay for 10 times as much.
Re:What do you do with ten iPods? (Score:2)
Re:What do you do with ten iPods? (Score:2)
AudioBooks (Score:2)
Re:What do you do with ten iPods? (Score:2)
If you had 10,500 free songs, would you pick and choose a song at a time? Or say 'screw it' and buy the entire album?
I don't know about 10,500 songs being a lifetime supply. Using a rough estimate of 10 songs per CD, I know 3 people who own that many songs. Some people are just indescriminant when they buy music.
Listening to all the songs though, that might take a lifetime.
Re:What do you do with ten iPods? (Score:2)
Assuming 3-minute songs, the first song has zero probability of repeating. The second has a 1/10,500 (i.e., 1-10,499/10,500) probability of repeating. The third has a 1-(10,499/10,500 * 10,498/10,499) unioned with the previous chance, and so on. With a random shuffle, statistically you'd get your first repeat around song 120, which would be 6 days into playing it.
What about how long you have to listen to have heard *every* song on a truly random play? The expected length of time to play
Advisory... (Score:2)
The bad news is (Score:2)
Good Gimmick, Apple (Score:2)
Re:Good Gimmick, Apple (Score:2)
Let's slashdot the itunes servers! (Score:5, Funny)
Sincerely,
Jeve Stobs.
Meanwhile... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:2)
They're beheading people retroactively now?
Astounding.
easily expoitable (Score:5, Funny)
Just buy 100,000 songs and hey, free ipod!
Re:easily expoitable (Score:2)
That would work if there were 100,000 songs I liked. I might only have something 10,000 I liked, so why should I blow about 90 grand on crap I don't like?
I suppose I could always buy 10 separate copies of the 10,000 I did like. But then I'd need those 10 ipods, not the 1 I'd otherwise get.
Let's see, once you're done on eBay (Score:2)
Gimme the Dual G5! (Score:3, Insightful)
Why not give away a nice Dual G5 system with the 30 inch cinema display instead of 10 iPods. What would you do with 10 iPods anyway? I mean 1 or 2 iPod's would be nice but 10??
Re:Gimme the Dual G5! (Score:2)
Get mugged?
No, seriously, 9 of them are going on eBay*.
*If you have a friend, 8.
Apples bobbing in the chocolate river (Score:5, Funny)
Heh...Good luck, Apple. (Score:5, Funny)
Taxes? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Taxes? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Taxes? (Score:3, Funny)
It's somewhere on your 1040, I think line 47 or so, ah, here:
Cash/coffee prizes/winnings (if lifetime winnings submit form Z-27 or enter $1e14, $1e14-20 if filing jointly):
I think 1e14 is as high as the IRS' calculators can go.
Re:Taxes? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.apple.com/itunes/volumesongs/
I'd also question the actual value of the gift card for tax purposes... it's probably significantly less than $10k.
Re:Taxes? (Score:2)
The IRS is the Internal Revenue Service; they're the part of the American Government that deals with taxes...Collection, enforcement, etc.
Watch out Apple... (Score:3, Funny)
;0]
iTunes API (Score:5, Funny)
while (totaldownloads != 500000)
{
download_random_song(Mother_in_Law_Creditcard_Dat
totaldownloads++;
printf("Now I can havea beowulf cluster of iPods!\n");
}
Thanks for the free advertising! (Score:3, Insightful)
500 million / 100,000 songs = 500 winners
500 winners * (50 songs * $0.80 per song + $100 per iPod mini) = $70,000
Gold gift card = $8,000
10 iPods = $1,000
Coldplay tickets = $0 cuz Coldplay is teh suck.
Total cost = $79,000, considerably less than a single 30-second prime time spot.
So Apple thanks you for the free advertising on this highly read online forum!
Re:Thanks for the free advertising! (Score:2)
I don't care... (Score:5, Funny)
Come on, its enough. (Score:2, Insightful)
But putting this kind of story on
There are dozens of great (DRM-free) audio players out there. I cannot see why we should high-five every little stunt from Apple's marketing depart
Re:Come on, its enough. (Score:2)
Taxes? (Score:3, Interesting)
slashdot news for nerds (Score:2)
ugh (Score:2)
Coldplay Tickets Are A Prize? (Score:2, Insightful)
coldplay huh? (Score:2)
Enter FREE online : No Purchase Necessary. (Score:5, Informative)
How To Enter. You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by: 1) downloading a song from iTunes (any free downloads will be deemed an ineligible entry); or 2) a free alternative means of sending an e-mail to Apple at itunes500@apple.com via the iTunes "Tell a Friend" feature (a song download or Tell a Friend e-mail will be deemed an "Entry(ies)"). The "Tell a Friend" feature can be easily accessed at iTunes by selecting a song, and clicking the "Tell a Friend" link that is displayed for that song. One Entry will be automatically submitted for each song downloaded or Tell a Friend e-mail sent. The Promotion begins following the downloading of the 480,000,000th iTunes song, and ends with the downloading of the 500 millionth Entry ("End Date"). Only Entries submitted in this time period will be accepted.
Predictor (Score:4, Interesting)
USA sure has expanded lately! (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, didn't know Austria, Belgium, Canada etc. were included in the 50 United States!
Re:Is this verifying a rumor? (Score:5, Funny)
Yep. They overstocked by 10 units and they need to unload them stat.
Re:Is this verifying a rumor? (Score:5, Informative)
Do the math (Score:4, Insightful)
Nah, Apple isn't that generous. They've sold something like 450M songs to date, so they still have 50M to go before they hit the 500M jackpot. One iPod for every 100K songs, and a 10 iPod mega prize adds up to only 510 give-away iPods. Apple sells a couple million iPods a year, so I don't think 510 is going to make a dent in any sort of inventory they might have.
Re:Is this verifying a rumor? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You had me going there... (Score:2)
Re:iRiver is better than iPod, iTunes = high risk (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:iRiver is better than iPod, iTunes = high risk (Score:3, Interesting)
Exactly. Why let some no name steal your credit card number when you can have the RIAA sue you AND infest your computer with a multitude of trojans and spyware!
It's all about return on investment people.
Re:iRiver is better than iPod, iTunes = high risk (Score:5, Funny)
I know a number of people who posted lies as Anonymous Cowards and had their testicles explode. Absolute, unimpeachable fact, my friend.
I wouldn't be playing so fast and loose with the boys if I were you, AC.
Re:iRiver is better than iPod, iTunes = high risk (Score:5, Funny)
-Ted
Is your scroll bar broken? (Score:2)
500 Millionth Download Promotion
Official Rules - US
1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
Re:Don't laws matter any more? (Score:2)
Re:Don't laws matter any more? (Score:2)
Re:Don't laws matter any more? (Score:2)
Re:Not Enough (Score:2)
So after the torture you could go backstage and beat the crap out of them for destroying my pleasant memories of "rage against the machine " and soundgarden( I think that's the band with ex SG and RATM members)