Apple's foray into rival market meets with success

Apple Computers has done what it said it would never do -- it has venture into enemy territory and creates a program that is compatible with its rival's software.\nLast week, the Apple iTunes Music Store opened a version for Windows users with more than 1 million songs downloaded in its first week. Despite its impressive debut, IU officials expect illegal downloading to still be a problem.\nThis online store allows users to legally download songs for a fee of 99 cents and albums for $9.99. \nApple CEO Steve Jobs launched the site with the banner, "Hell has frozen over." \nWithin the first three days of opening, more than 1 million users downloaded the iTunes for Windows software onto their computers and downloaded over one million songs, according to the Associated Press. The original version of iTunes Music Store for Mac users was released in April, and one week passed before 1 million users had downloaded the software.\nMerri Beth Lavagnino, deputy information technology policy officer at the office of the vice president for information technology, said she thinks iTunes will reduce but not eliminate the amount of illegal downloading of music, movies and games that occurs on the IU campus.\n"Many people have been waiting for this type of service to be offered, and I expect that will reduce the amount of illegal file sharing that goes on," Lavagnino said. "But there will still be people who will disregard the law and continue to download and share copyrighted works even with these legal alternatives available."\nLavagnino said that copyright holders, following the procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, send IU "take down" notices when they identify a computer sharing their copyrighted work. Since last November, IU has received 1,009 such notices, an average of 84 per month. The most IU ever received in one month was 328 last April.\nStudents who are found to have violated the law receive notices that they must immediately remove the illegal program from their computers and complete a tutorial about copyright laws within 24 hours. Failure to do this results in disabling the student's access to the IU network. Access to the network is not returned until the student completes the tutorial. \nIn order to sweeten the idea of buying songs instead of downloading them illegally, iTunes offers services unavailable through free downloading sites such as KaZaA, Morpheus and WinMX.\nITunes will have nearly 400,000 songs by the end of this month and plans to give 1 million songs away for free annually. In addition, a deal with audible.com allows iTunes users to buy audio books, electronic gift certificates and allows parents to set up an allowance service for children.\nSophomore Joanna Szablewski said while iTunes is a good idea, she cannot afford it.\n"I wouldn't be willing to pay 99 cents for a song because I'm poor and I'm a college student," Szablewski said. "Its not one of my priorities. I'd probably just end up buying CDs."\nSophomore Mike Hearne agrees, saying it will only appeal to college students with lots of money.\n"I don't think college students would use iTunes to purchase music, but I think older and wealthier customers would use it," Hearne said. "It's just doesn't fit into my budget."\n-- Contact staff writer Alli Stolper at astolper@indiana.edu.