AppleInsider Staff
Adding to the tsunami of major announcements coming out of Cupertino on Friday, Apple and Irish rockers U2 teamed up to give away a free copy the band's new album to each one of the more than 500 million iTunes customers in 119 countries around the world.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement standing alongside U2 frontman Bono at the end of the company's event earlier Tuesday. Following a performance of their new single, Bono asked Cook if he could help release the album.
"Well, we have iTunes," Cook replied.
The two then joined together on a five-second countdown, with Cook declaring at the end that that "actually happened." The album will become available in users' libraries throughout the day, and will remain exclusive to iTunes — Â for free — until Oct. 13.
In addition, the album will stream over iTunes Radio and through Beats Music. Cook said that the event represents the largest album release in the history of the music industry.
Word of U2's involvement leaked last week, but the band flatly denied those reports, likely at Apple's behest. "They are not releasing their album on the iPhone, and they are not performing at the iPhone launch," the band's representative said at the time.
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31 Comments
Took over 20 minutes before you could even see the album in the iTunes Store - where it says I've already purchased it. Not in my library though, nor is it listed as an "available download". Another 'not impressive' performance. :no: I have a feeling Apple flatly failed to account for sheer volume in any of today's endeavors.
And two minutes before it showed up in my library.
Turn on “iTunes in the Cloud” purchases.
Nah.
"U2 spokesman" has just stolen the crown from DigiTimes for Most Unreliable Source of Information. (P.S. Even though I have all the iTunes cloud options turned on, the album does NOT appear in my library, yet shows as Purchased in the store. I'm sure it will eventually appear--just pointing out that Boredumb is not wrong. It's not working the same for everyone instantly.)
Took over 20 minutes before you could even see the album in the iTunes Store - where it says I've already purchased it.
To be fair, Cook did say it would take a little longer than five seconds to "get across the whole Internet." I still haven't been able to see or download it, but I'll try later. It's a nice bonus for me since I'm a U2 fan and would have bought the new album.
Go to the iTunes Store, click on Purchased under Quick Links on the top right of the page.