Time Magazine Brands iTunes The Coolest Invention of 2003

Is this the kiss of judas for Apple’s iTunes? Usually anything branded cool by Time Warner magazines dies a painful death (anecdotal evidence, so take it easy, will ya?).

“For finally finding a middle ground between the foot-dragging record labels and the free-for-all digital pirates and for creating a bandwagon onto which its competitors immediately jumped, Apple’s iTunes Music Store is Time’s Coolest Invention of 2003.”

And then, the dirty secret of selling songs by the tune: “The dirty little secret of all this is there’s no way to make money on these stores,” Steve Jobs says. For every 99¢ Apple gets from your credit card, 65¢ goes straight to the music label. Another quarter or so gets eaten up by distribution costs. At most, Jobs is left with a dime per track, so even $500 million in annual sales would add up to a paltry $50 million profit. Why even bother? “Because we’re selling iPods,” Jobs says…”. The cliched razor-blade strategy

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