The launch had been rumored for some time, and was reported in a Japanese newspaper last year as scheduled for March.
Whatever kinks Apple had to work out for their Japanese release appear to have been resolved. The longtime computer maker turned music purveyor will launch iTunes in Japan in August.
According to the Nihon Keizai, iTunes will charge about $1.40 (150 yen) per song, below rival offerings. Columbia, Toshiba-EMI, and Avex Group will all provide tracks for sale on iTunes.
Negotiations between Sony and Apple have been ongoing, but an agreement that will make tunes from Sony’s library available has not yet been reached. Apple’s proposed pricing will be below that charged by Sony in Japan.
While Sony’s available tracks online number around 200,000, Apple will be offering from 500,000 to a million tunes.
iTunes has helped drive sales of Apple’s iPod music player. Recent reports in America claim iPod sales have fallen flat for the first time since the iPod debuted. And, iPod Shuffles and photo iPods have been sitting on warehouse shelves.
Apple has sold more than 400 million songs through iTunes since its debut. iTunes has remained a popular option for managing music and playlists for the iPod. But some users have turned to other management options.
Fans of WinAmp can use ml_iPod to manage their collections from inside that application. One feature ml_iPod has that iTunes does not is a “Copy to Hard Drive all tracks not in Music Library” option. That behavior is not allowed by iTunes, due to its potential use for pirating songs.
And for iTunes fans who want to buy iTunes songs but don’t own an iPod, the Hymn Project allows purchasers to convert those tracks to ones that will work with other media players.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
