iTunes – What’s so special about it?

Apple has launched iTunes in India last week, almost after 10 years of its launch in the US. So what can you get from iTunes? Why has Apple taken so much time to launch this service in India? What’s so special about it? And it has launched it in India after countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, etc. These are the few questions that you might be having in your mind. So let me try to answer them one by one.



What you can get from iTunes?
You can purchase songs, video songs, movie, podcasts, iTunes-U, or various applications

which can be installed on MAC PC/Laptop or iPhone / iPad. You can even rent a movie for 48 hrs. Currently they are only allowing free books to download in India. You can buy 'Talaash' songs album for Rs. 72 or individual songs for Rs. 12 each. Rate for song ranges from Rs. 7 To Rs. 15 whereas you can buy 'Ek Tha Tiger' movie for Rs. 490 for HD print or Rs. 290 normal or SD print. You can also rent this movie for Rs. 120 (HD) or Rs. 80 (SD). You can subscribe to Podcasts in iTunes. Podcasts are nothing but series of short voice or video episodes. If you subscribe to Podcasts then whenever new episodes of that Podcast gets released it will be available for to you to view or listen. iTunes-U is nothing but various online educational programs. You can opt for any course available on iTunes-U and you will get complete study material in text, audio or video format. Currently Apple is offering only free books in iTunes India. I am sure very soon Apple will allow purchase of paid books in India.

Why has Apple taken so much time to launch it in India?
It was really surprising that Apple launched one of their land mark service in India almost 10 years after its launch in the US. They started iTunes in 28th Apr 2003. The only reason I see behind this is that they must be worried about the piracy of the content on iTunes. For eg. if someone purchases a  movie and distributes it to 10 others then iTunes will find only 1 buyer for their content. Just to prevent this piracy they stopped file transfer over Bluetooth on any of their device, be it iPhone, iPad or Mac Book. But they still are so confident of this happening in India that they release iTunes in Sri Lanka a year back but not in India and when asked about it they said 'No Comments'. But now I guess looking at the sales of Apple devices in India they feel that in spite of piracy they will still have a good amount of business. I don't see any other reason behind this delay.

Do I need an Apple device to purchase and use content of iTunes?
NO. you can install iTunes on your Windows PC or laptop and you can enjoy all content from it. iTunes is very much capable of playing all audio, video, podcasts. The only thing that you will not able to do is read books. This is not possible even on Apple laptop or desktop. Reading books is possible only on iOS devices like iPhone, iPad or iTouch. So you really don't need any Apple device to use iTunes service if you are not planning to read books available on iTunes. You can download iTunes from here.

How do I pay?

To access iTunes you have to create account with iTunes. While registering this account they ask about you credit card details and whenever you do any transaction or purchase it gets charged to that credit card. So, it’s simple right? And don't worry about security of your credit card details, it is absolutely safe. And whenever you do any commercial transaction it asks for confirmation with your iTunes password. So make sure that you keep your iTunes password a secret.


Is everything on iTunes chargeable?
Not really. There are free thing available on iTunes like podcasts, books or iTunes-U. But all music and movies are paid. No free stuff there.

GadgetDost Verdict:
It is an excellent service if you are a music or movie lover. Also it is very useful for knowledge up grade and education. I will not recommend this if you are a book lover.