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iTunes facts for kids
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
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| Initial release | January 9, 2001 |
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| License | Freeware |
iTunes was a popular media player program created by Apple. It first came out on January 10, 2001, at an event called Macworld Expo in San Francisco. People used iTunes to play and organize their music and video files. It also helped users manage what was on their iPod or iPhone devices.
iTunes was a free download for computers running Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. You could get it from Apple's website. It also came with Apple Macintosh computers and some computers from HP and Dell.
The iTunes Store
The iTunes Store was an online shop built right into the iTunes program. If you had an internet connection, iTunes could link to the iTunes Store. There, you could buy and download many things like music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, podcasts, and movies.
In the past, files from the iTunes Store used something called Digital Rights Management (DRM). This was a way to stop people from illegally copying or sharing content. However, later on, iTunes started selling music and videos called iTunes Plus. These files were better quality and did not have DRM.
For a long time, you couldn't find music by The Beatles on iTunes. This was because of a legal disagreement between Apple Inc. and Apple Records. But starting in November 2010, you could finally get Beatles music on iTunes, and it became very popular.
How iTunes Started
Before iTunes, there was a program called SoundJamMP. A person named Bill Kincaid developed it, and it was released in 1999. Apple bought SoundJamMP in the year 2000 and later renamed it iTunes.
As SoundJam was improved over time, its design changed to make it easier for people to use. New features were added, like the ability to burn music onto CDs. Some older features, like recording audio or changing the program's look, were removed to keep it simple.
On January 9, 2001, iTunes 1.0 was officially released at Macworld San Francisco. People who used Macintosh computers quickly found clues inside the program that showed iTunes was actually a redesigned version of SoundJam MP. Because of this, the company that distributed SoundJam MP stopped selling it on June 1, 2001.
See also
In Spanish: ITunes para niños