Stars come out to see iTunes for Windows launched

Apple has unveiled the Windows version of its iTunes software during a star studded event which included pre-recorded 'guest appearances' from U2 front man Bono, rapper Dr Dre and Mick Jagger, all endorsing the product.

Like the iTunes Music Store service it unveiled for the Mac last April, the new jukebox software for Windows is free and offers a one-click access to downloads of an expansive music catalogue, with most songs priced at 99 cents.

The new Windows iTunes jukebox, which is compatible with Windows 2000 and XP, has the same look and feel of the Mac version. It supports Apple's copy-protected Advanced Audio Coding format as well as MP3 - but not Microsoft's Windows Media Audio (WMA) format.

Speaking at the launch Apple CEO Steve Jobs said: "This is not some baby version of iTunes or the music store. This is the whole thing."

In his typical marketing hyperbole, Jobs declared, "iTunes for Windows is probably the best Windows application ever written."

Acknowledging that developing products for the dominant Windows platform marks a deviation for Apple, Jobs began his introduction by pointing to an image with the words "hell froze over". The company later handed out posters with that phrase below a picture of a Windows PC that's running iTunes.

As expected, Apple also announced new accessories for the iPod, including a microphone and a reader for removable flash memory cards that will allow users to store - but not display - digital photos on the devices. PC accessories maker Belkin is making both accessories, which Apple is selling through its site.

The release of the iTunes service will be closely monitored as a bellwether of Apple's future outside its traditional computing product line but also as an indicator of the future of the digital music business. Like Microsoft and Sony, Apple characterises its products as the centrepieces of digital home entertainment systems. The leap onto the Windows platform - which has a PC market share of more than 90 per cent compared with Apple's less than five percent - marks an expansion of that ambition.

Apple's launch of its online music store in April jump-started a digital music industry which the collapse of numerous start-ups and restrictive licensing terms had demoralised.

In large measure due to Jobs' negotiating power and his stature in Hollywood as CEO of the successful Pixar Animation Studios, Apple was given a much freer hand than were its predecessors. As a result, iTunes was hailed as the first consumer-friendly digital music store and Jobs even walked away with the accolade of silicon.com Agenda Setter of the Year 2003 largely as a result of iTunes.

In less than six months, the company said it sold 13 million songs, far more than any online song store in a similar time frame despite only being available to the relatively small market of Mac users.

John Borland writes for News.com