Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Apple starts offering free content via new section in its iTunes store

Trevor Mogg
By

apple launches free itunes section users online store on
Image used with permission by copyright holder
As quietly as Apple apparently killed off its free single-of-the-week iTunes promotion earlier this month, the Cupertino company has rolled out what you might consider to be a replacement.

Called ‘Free on iTunes,’ the new section of its online store does what it says on the tin, offering users a selection of audio and video content for the princely sum of nothing.

Recommended Videos

It currently shows 16 music tracks (none of them by U2, you may or may not be pleased to know) together with 24 full-length TV episodes, among them Animal Planet documentary Rugged Justice, BBC America’s The Musketeers, and Fox’s Backstrom, which premiered just last week. Click on a listing and it takes you to a download page that includes additional paid-for options, a move Apple hopes will help it to score a bit of extra revenue.

Related

The company quietly stopped offering free weekly music tracks at the start of this year, bringing to an end a feature that started more than 10 years ago. It also brought the curtain down on ’12 Days of Gifts,’ an annual Christmas offering of free apps, music, and other iTunes content. The feature ran internationally for six years, though U.S. based users were only able to snag the freebies during its last outing in Christmas 2013.

With no official announcement from Apple regarding the new ‘Free on iTunes’ section, it’s not clear how often the content will be added to or updated.

Also, the feature is currently only showing on the U.S. iTunes store, so we’re currently in the dark as to whether the company has any plans to roll it out internationally. We’ve reached out to Apple for clarification on both points and will update should we hear back.

[Free on iTunes]

[Via 9to5Mac] 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
With Fitness+, the Apple Watch is having its iTunes moment
Apple Watch Series 6

The Apple Watch has become the latest Apple product to become less about the hardware and more about the software and services it enables. It’s a transition for the company that began years ago, but out of all Apple’s devices, the Apple Watch is the one with the fewest places to go, design-wise, and therefore a prime target for visual stagnation and a switch to pushing a new subscription service.

Think that’s a bad thing? It’s really not, and here’s why.
Watch design doesn't really change
In the early 1900s watchmaker Louis Cartier introduced the first Tank watch, a model that’s still made today, more than a hundred years later, with the majority of its distinguishing features intact. While I’m not calling the Apple Watch a Tank Solo rival, I am saying that watches don’t tend to change much, especially when the core aspects are exactly right.

Read more
Apple’s new shot-on-iPhone movie offers vertical take on classic film genres
apple shares vertical movie shot on iphone by top director

Vertical videos on a TV screen or computer monitor may still cause a part of our brain to twitch in irritation, but the popularity of smartphone apps like Snapchat and TikTok, and the growing use of mobile video calls, have gently coached us into embracing the once-condemned format.

Even Apple has jumped on the bandwagon with the release this week of a movie that really makes the most of the alternative framing.

Read more
Apple Card will reportedly offer interest-free installments for iPads, Macs
Apple Credit Card.

Apple Card owners will reportedly soon be able to pay for their purchases of Apple products such as iPads and Macs through interest-free installments.

Apple is planning to roll out the new Apple Card feature over the coming weeks, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The service is expected to attract more customers to apply for the Apple Card, while also boosting sales for Apple products by making it easier to pay for them.

Read more