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Severed Hand of Skywalker · Feb 11, 2005, 04:53 PM

"In the article Jobs tells stories about the birth of iTunes � it was started from scratch and took just four months to create; describes how the iPod took just months to produce; and reiterates the enormous challenge of creating the iTunes Music Store."

Isn't it well known that iTunes is just the old soundjam with a new face? Also the iPods OS came from an outside company and rumor has it the whole thing took over a year.

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...S&NewsID=10827

historylme · Feb 11, 2005, 05:46 PM

BABY JESUS IS A CRYING IN SHAME.

The article makes him sound hot headed... no wait, never mind.

Millennium · Feb 11, 2005, 05:58 PM

I don't know if I'd call it "well-known" that iTunes is really just another incarnation of SoundJam, but it's true anyway. I'm forced to wonder how much code they actually used from SoundJam, though.

Also, when he speaks of "iTunes", is he talking about the program or the music store? The actual code for the music store wouldn't be all that difficult (relatively speaking) to create at all; the real challenge is in getting the RIAA to go along.

Big Mac · Feb 11, 2005, 05:59 PM

Are we talking about the Fortune article? According to the summary I read, Jobs readily admits to using a languishing Macromedia product as the basis of FCP. So it does not make a whole lot of sense for him to lie about the origins of iTunes, nor did I see any mention of such a statement in the summary I read.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Feb 11, 2005, 06:03 PM

Originally posted by Millennium:
I don't know if I'd call it "well-known" that iTunes is really just another incarnation of SoundJam, but it's true anyway. I'm forced to wonder how much code they actually used from SoundJam, though.

According to this they came out with iTunes rather quickly:

http://www.panic.com/extras/audionstory/

nredman · Feb 11, 2005, 06:21 PM

i remember using soundjam...stupid question but did they release soundjam for os x? or was it already dead

juanvaldes · Feb 11, 2005, 06:25 PM

Originally posted by nredman:
i remember using soundjam...stupid question but did they release soundjam for os x? or was it already dead

They sorta did, a beta. But of course iTunes came out and soundjam was no more. Then they said it could corrupt your mp3's in OS X. I was never convinced this was simply not a scare tactic to send sound jam users to iTunes.

Not sure if was this article but I did read recently that they claims to have thrown the sound jam code out and build iTunes from the ground up in four months (using the knowledge of soundjam).

PurpleGiant · Feb 11, 2005, 06:25 PM

Originally posted by nredman:
i remember using soundjam...stupid question but did they release soundjam for os x? or was it already dead

Beta version. Was decent, but very slow. After months of still being in beta, they announced it was discontinued. Months later, iTunes is released.

lewd0006 · Feb 11, 2005, 06:59 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
According to this they came out with iTunes rather quickly:

http://www.panic.com/extras/audionstory/

i feel REALLY bad for those guys.

MilkmanDan · Feb 11, 2005, 07:22 PM

Originally posted by lewd0006:
i feel REALLY bad for those guys.

If you actually read that story, you'll see how Apple came to them first, and they were too caught up trying to get a better deal between Apple and AOL to commit. Plus, they wanted to stay independent. Don't feel sorry for them.

itistoday · Feb 11, 2005, 07:58 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
According to this they came out with iTunes rather quickly:

http://www.panic.com/extras/audionstory/

Awesome story, thanks for the link.

Angus_D · Feb 12, 2005, 05:15 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Isn't it well known that iTunes is just the old soundjam with a new face?

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...S&NewsID=10827

I reserved judgement until I see the original article. Macworld UK's journalistic ability leaves something to be desired. They're quite frequently outright wrong, overly biased, etc etc.

dlefebvre · Feb 12, 2005, 12:23 PM

Maybe Steve's lies make Baby Jesus cry, but to they kill a Kitten?
If so, I will have to change my perspective on the whole thing.

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Feb 12, 2005, 01:13 PM

Originally posted by lewd0006:
i feel REALLY bad for those guys.

Don't, they played it too cool and lost because of it.

Visnaut · Feb 12, 2005, 04:51 PM

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
Don't, they played it too cool and lost because of it.

Agreed.

They put AOL in front of Apple when they could have perfectly met with Apple on their own. Hammering out a deal with one potential suitor doesn't exclude you from shopping around. Never put all your eggs in one basket.

iTunes would probably look and feel the same had it been either the guys from Panic, or the guys from Soundjam who went to Apple. The users win either way, but the developers are laughing all the way to the bank with a career at Apple.

Panic missed the boat, and lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place.

As for iTunes' development time and strategy, I can totally see it being built in a few months. They have a great pool of developers, and the existing Soundjam source was probably tangled up in C&G intellectual property issues anyway.