Veerle's blog

“for finally finding a middle ground between the foot-dragging record labels and the free-for-all digital pirates… Apple’s iTunes Music Store is Time’s Coolest Invention of 2003.”

Steve Jobs’ new Music Store showed foot-dragging record labels and freeloading music pirates that there is a third way. It’s not obvious to get such an award from Time Magazine, but I guess it was earned because of its disarmingly simple concept: sell songs in digital format for less than a buck and let buyers play them whenever and wherever they like, as long as it’s on an Apple iPod.

How did Jobs do this trick? In a word: simplicity, the transparent ease of use that is the hallmark of Apple’s entire product line, including the Music Store. “I’m a complete computer dummy,” Sarah McLachlan told Time after the iTunes event last month at the San Francisco Moscone Center. “If I can use this, anyone can.” So this says it all.

Read more on Time magazine’s website