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January 31, 2008, 1:47 pm

iTunes: Now No. 2 in streaming media

picture-74.pngApple’s (AAPL) iTunes passed RealNetwork’s (RNWK) RealPlayer in November 2007 to take the No. 2 slot in streaming media players, according to a new report from WebSiteOptimization.com.

Although Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Media Player is still No. 1, with nearly a 50% market share, its growth has leveled off over the past year.

In fact, iTunes is the only one of the big four players, including Apple’s own QuickTime, to show positive growth lately. (see chart) As the report puts it:

Growing at an annual rate of 26.8%, iTunes hit a high note while the rest of the band was flat. (link)

RealNetworks was a pioneer in streaming media, having introduced its first player in 1995. Its market share might not be stagnating if it weren’t so hard these days to find the free “basic” player on its website amid all the 14-day trials.

media player usage doesn’t matter anymore. the money is in the content, not the codec or the software.

Posted By steve, seattle wa : February 1, 2008 11:14 am

of the number of itunes subscribers will go up if you can only use the ipod with itunes. itunes is the most ill conceived piece of nonsense mediamanagement software i have used. shame on apple for trying to lock me into itunes to use its product. so glad i found winamp and i’m so glad i now use linux. gtkpod forever!!!!!!

Posted By macdisser,bronx,n.y. : January 31, 2008 6:36 pm

In regards to your response to Joe’s comment, I also see “Get RealPlayer Free” quite prominently in the upper left box. Try another computer, perhaps?

Posted By Mysterius, San Francisco, CA : January 31, 2008 5:54 pm

I have the same experience as first poster: 2/3 of the top of the front page and a big yellow button “Get RealPlayer Free”, goes right to immediate download of the Gold version of RealPlayer 11. It has been like this for a couple of years now.

Maybe a different page is shown for international users, with only the Beta player available.

Posted By Karl, Seattle WA : January 31, 2008 5:26 pm

Funny, I go to Real.com and the largest link in the middle of the page says “Get Realplayer Free” and goes to an immediate download.

ex ped: I go to real.com and see two big yellow Try SuperPass Free (14-day Free Trial) buttons. There’s a Get RealPlayer 11 beta — FREE button in the upper right hand corner, but it’s less prominent and what it’s offering me is beta.

Posted By Joe, Seattle, WA : January 31, 2008 4:38 pm

I think iTunes has a lot of growth ahead of it, as it is by far the most dynamic media interface - rent, but, watch, listen, stream, burn ETC. It took a step forward when WinMedia was still just being a desktop access panel to ONLINE content.

But the big news today are Gartners Mac numbers. Get that post up already!
http://cartoonshmartoon.blogspot.com/

Posted By mfearing : January 31, 2008 4:05 pm

Not relvant to the article, but I wanted to post this on Apple 2.0 and wasn’t sure what else to do. My company created a program as part of it’s wellness program where staff can use their annual wellness budget (every person gets $125 per year) for an iPod Nano and the wireless Nike pedometer. More than 600 of about 3000 employees signed up within a week - not sure of how big the final number will be (deadline is Feb 8). This all happened without help from Apple - I know this because I work for the VP of HR. Apple wouldn’t even return the VP of HR’s call. Nike is “watching interestedly”, but they are not sponsoring the program. The program was totally internally conceieved. If Apple embraced this, the might sell millions of incremental units and get some brand appreciation by helping people get healthy.

Posted By John, Halifax, Nova Scotia : January 31, 2008 3:45 pm

“Market share” is rather a misnomer here, as a single “unique user” can be counted twice, or three or four times, if he or she downloads more than one file type. (I suspect that this is true of just about everyone, actually!)

A better correlation to market share would be found in the number of files transferred. The number of terabytes could be used, but would be skewed toward video by the relative file sizes.

Finally, a question: Where does YouTube fit in?

Posted By Jim Demers, NY NY : January 31, 2008 2:54 pm

“with a better than 75% market share.” Not according to your chart. WinMedia has 75 million unique users out of the approximate total - according to your chart - of 150 million. That’s 50% market share.

ex ped: Right you are. I’ll correct that now. Thanks.

Posted By John, Minneapolis : January 31, 2008 2:24 pm

So as iTunes is driven by Quicktime surely these numbers should be added together? Poor analysis.

Posted By rattyuk, Ft Myers, FL : January 31, 2008 2:13 pm

Wow… I think that was actually a positive comment about Apple. Are you feeling well Phil? Of course you had to mention how Microsoft’s player is still number 1 since it comes free on every PC sold with windows. Of course, your headline naming Apple number 2 is kind of a dig… but you actually managed to not disparage Apple too bad.

Posted By Mike New York, NY : January 31, 2008 2:06 pm
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Philip Elmer-DeWittSilicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
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