Apple's online strategy spouts a healthy tune

This is a tale of two stores: one virtual, one real. On April 28, Apple Computer launched its iTunes Music Store for handling music online; a week later, it had sold a million songs. Today, Apple opens its first Seattle-area store at Bellevue Square.

The iTunes Music Store offers more than 200,000 songs, many of them part of complete albums, for 99 cents each. Most albums cost $9.99. Obviously, buying a 5-song album for $9.99 makes little sense, but a 12- or 20-song album is a bargain.

Every song in the library has a 30-second preview that is selectively chosen, not just the first 30 seconds of a song. Browsing and searching works identically to viewing your local iTunes library requires an active Internet connection. The song files are several megabytes each, which means you need broadband to download — or a trip with your laptop to use the Apple Store's free bandwidth.

Once you download a song, it's yours forever. What's the catch? You can only authorize three Macs to play any of the music downloaded from your account, although you can transfer it to an unlimited number of iPods, and burn the songs to an unlimited number of audio CDs. You can only burn a given set of songs in the same order up to 10 times, however.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide marketing, said Apple had worked hard to make sure the usage rights for every song in their store were identical. Their philosophy: "You never have to pay anyone again for it" once you've bought it. (One proviso: If you lose the copies you've downloaded and don't have backups, you can't download a restored set, but would have to repurchase the music.)

Schiller said Apple tried to replicate the experience that people found with Napster and other peer-to-peer file-sharing networks — without the whiff of illegality. "With this, you get the full exploratory discovery part of music again," he said.

Other music services typically allow you to stream music from their servers for a small monthly fee, but charge additional amounts to download and burn the music to a CD. Stop paying the service, and your access to the music at most services ends.

Schiller said Apple plans to offer the service on Windows, but hasn't committed to a timetable more specific than the end of this year.

Apple's remarkable first-week sales show its store has that early Amazon.com feel, when a boatload of media suddenly appeared at your fingertips for simple instant gratification.

The iTunes Music Store requires two free updates: QuickTime 6.2 (18 megabytes) and iTunes 4 (10 MB). ITunes 4 works with Mac OS X 10.1.5 or later. The iTunes update also allows you to share your iTunes library over a local network using Rendezvous or via the Internet. An iPod update is also required for existing players; new players already have it.

Speaking of huge downloads and new hardware, once the crowds have died down in Bellevue, you could hop over to the new Apple Store with an external hard drive, a USB memory stick, or a laptop and download those updates while checking out those sleeker iPods and a brace of new eMac all-in-one machines.

The new iPods have redesigned controls and 10-, 15-, or 30-gigabyte hard drives; they cost from $299 to $499. The new eMacs start at $799 with souped-up graphics; more expensive models have Combo or 4x SuperDrives and faster processors. Educator and student pricing starts at $749, while schools can purchase units for $699 or less in quantity.

The eMac now supports Apple's updated AirPort Extreme wireless networking system. The two cheaper models can boot in Mac OS 9 to support schools that still haven't updated, but can't use the wireless network while running that older system.

As for that bandwidth, Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president for retail, said that Apple Stores encourage people — not just "customers" — to come and use its free high-speed wired and wireless network at any time. He said the Apple Stores have also "set aside two nights a week in every store, every Tuesday and every Wednesday" as a school night when a teacher sponsor can bring a class and invite parents to show off projects.

One of the reasons I like visiting the Apple Stores as I travel around the country is that every computer has a device attached: an iPod, a digital camera, a digital camcorder, a scanner. Unlike chains that have password-protected floor machines, the Apple Store lets people into their retail nirvana to play.

The stores offer classes, special events, free answers at the Genius Bar, and free bandwidth. Oh, yeah, and it sells computers, too. "The whole idea is to become like Starbucks: to become a gathering spot," Johnson said.

Sounds very Seattle.

Glenn Fleishman writes the Practical Mac column for Personal Technology and about technology in general for The Seattle Times and other publications. Send questions to gfleishman@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists