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Featured Article:

Apple Offers Free Downloads Of DNC Speeches On iTMS [UPDATED]

by , 4:30 PM EDT, July 30th, 2004

[Update 3:35 PM: An Apple spokesperson has confirmed for TMO that the iTMS will be carrying speeches from next month's Republican National Convention.]

Our friends at MacMinute noted that Apple is offering free downloads of speeches from the 2004 Democratic National Convention through the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). The iTMS currently has speeches from Days 1 and 2 available, including speeches by the following: former Vice President of the US and current Apple board member Al Gore; former President Jimmy Carter; Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; former President Bill Clinton; Senator Ted Kennedy; Senate candidate Barack Obama; Ron Reagan; and Teresa Heinz Kerry.

TMO has contacted Apple to see if days 3 and 4 of the convention would likewise be offered, and to find out if the company is planning on offering downloads from the Republican National Convention, which begins on August 30th; this article will be updated when Apple has answered those questions.

You can find the speeches on the iTMS's landing page, or through this direct link: 2004 DNC Speech Downloads. Apple also has a free copy of the Executive Summary of the 9-11 Commission Final Report.

Democratic National Convention Downloads

Observer Comments

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Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1922 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:56 pm Subject:

The audiobooks part of ITMS has been rather ignored so far. If this lets people know that it's out there then it's good.


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Close Name:DrDude Posts: 31 Joined: 04 Sep 2002
Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:24 pm Subject: RNC?

Do you think Stevo will do the same for the Republican convention? My vote is that he doesn't.


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Close Name:Jon Stanard -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 2038 Joined: 27 Jul 2001
Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:27 pm Subject: Re: RNC?

Quote
DrDude wrote:
Do you think Stevo will do the same for the Republican convention? My vote is that he doesn't.


Yeah, they are doing that right along with having previous sessions of Rush Limbaugh available



Apple isn't at ALL political, are they


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Close Name:Guest
Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:32 pm Subject: RNC convention

I wouldn't be so sure they won't. After all, they put up the 9/11 commission hearings. It seems like Apple is just getting into an interesting habit of putting up civil recordings on the store for free. I don't know why --- maybe it's for the extra publicity it nets the store.


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Close Name:Guest
Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:47 pm Subject: And They're Off!

The political flamewar finds its way to TMO.


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Close Name:Staggie Posts: 21 Joined: 06 May 2004
Fri Jul 30, 2004 4:07 pm Subject:

Quote
geoduck wrote:
The audiobooks part of ITMS has been rather ignored so far. If this lets people know that it's out there then it's good.


Actually, the head of Audible was quoted in Business Week a couple of weeks back that iTunes has revitalized his company and is their largest sales channel. That doesn't sound like it's been ignored.


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Close Name:Alphax Posts: 3182 Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Fri Jul 30, 2004 4:23 pm Subject: Downloaded both recordings already.

They seem like good quality recordings, and they match my memories of them from earlier this week. Just 32 kbps, but that's fine for spoken word, and it gives you nearly an hour and a half of audio in a 20 meg file.


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Close Name:AyaSofya Posts: 137 Joined: 11 May 2004
Fri Jul 30, 2004 4:55 pm Subject: Got 'em

I have also been buying some audio books from the iTMS.


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Close Name:mahuti -   TMO Staff Posts: 377 Joined: 09 Jan 2003
Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:38 pm Subject: I bought

I bought several books from the iTMS, I started buying them directly from Audible when I found out that I could get *some* of them MUCH cheaper directly from the source.


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Close Name:iggyb Posts: 112 Joined: 09 May 2003
Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:50 pm Subject: iggyb

yeehaw. A large audio file of basically what is a campaign commercial. DNCs and RNCs are worthless anymore.


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Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7340 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Fri Jul 30, 2004 6:12 pm Subject: Re: And They're Off!

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
The political flamewar finds its way to TMO.


Actually, this discussion has been delightfully civil, interesting, and on-topic. Thanks, everyone!


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Close Name:Guest
Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:48 pm Subject: It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible.

It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible. It's just iTunes also offers what

If the Republican speeches don't appear, don't talk to Apple; take it up with Audiable. Contacting Apple is pointless.


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Close Name:Guest
Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:27 am Subject: Help is on the way?

I am having a hell of a time downloading Dennis Kucinich's inspiring speech. Is help really on the way or are Kerry and company shining us on?


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Close Name:Guest
Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:23 am Subject:

Apple is offering a new type of service. Information... and it's free. I'm sure the RNC will also be available. This is an exciting new avenue of iTMS, and it only can strengthen Apples hold on digital audio distribution.

:HAn.


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Close Name:DawnTreader -   TMO Staff Posts: 15039 Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Sat Jul 31, 2004 2:33 pm Subject: Re: It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible.

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible. It's just iTunes also offers what

If the Republican speeches don't appear, don't talk to Apple; take it up with Audiable. Contacting Apple is pointless.


That's correct. Audible is making an amazing amount of content available for free.

The availability via of iTunes isn't a political statement. It's merely providing access via of iTMS to content Audible has chosen to release as a public service.


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Close Name:X_Ranger Posts: 14 Joined: 24 May 2004
Sat Jul 31, 2004 5:12 pm Subject:

Funny, iTMS did not have Al Sharpton's speech, but Audible did.

Because of this, I have an account with Audible now.

P.S. I don't like Al Sharpton but there was so much buzz about his speech at the DNC I could not resist downloading it.


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Close Name:DawnTreader -   TMO Staff Posts: 15039 Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:42 pm Subject:

Quote
X_Ranger wrote:
Funny, iTMS did not have Al Sharpton's speech, but Audible did.

Because of this, I have an account with Audible now.

P.S. I don't like Al Sharpton but there was so much buzz about his speech at the DNC I could not resist downloading it.


Audible is an amazing company. I think Audible has a very bright future as more and more consumers move to digital delivery of content.


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Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7340 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:44 pm Subject: Re: It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible.

Quote
DawnTreader wrote:
Quote
Anonymous wrote:
It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible. It's just iTunes also offers what

If the Republican speeches don't appear, don't talk to Apple; take it up with Audiable. Contacting Apple is pointless.


That's correct. Audible is making an amazing amount of content available for free.

The availability via of iTunes isn't a political statement. It's merely providing access via of iTMS to content Audible has chosen to release as a public service.


That's just not true. Apple would never, ever have a contract with anyone that would leave it without the power to decide what it was carrying. In addition, Apple is the only entity to decide what goes on the home page of the iTMS.

There was absolutely a decision made to carry this content, and that decision was made by Apple.

That is why when I did contact Apple, as noted in the story, I was told that speeches from the Republican convention would also be available.

Bryan
Editor
TMO


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Close Name:DawnTreader -   TMO Staff Posts: 15039 Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:15 pm Subject: Re: It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible.

Quote
Bryan wrote:
Quote
DawnTreader wrote:
Quote
Anonymous wrote:
It's not Apple offering them. It's Audible. It's just iTunes also offers what

If the Republican speeches don't appear, don't talk to Apple; take it up with Audiable. Contacting Apple is pointless.


That's correct. Audible is making an amazing amount of content available for free.

The availability via of iTunes isn't a political statement. It's merely providing access via of iTMS to content Audible has chosen to release as a public service.


That's just not true. Apple would never, ever have a contract with anyone that would leave it without the power to decide what it was carrying. In addition, Apple is the only entity to decide what goes on the home page of the iTMS.

There was absolutely a decision made to carry this content, and that decision was made by Apple.

That is why when I did contact Apple, as noted in the story, I was told that speeches from the Republican convention would also be available.

Bryan
Editor
TMO


I didn't mean to suggest iTMS has become an automatic conduit for any product (free or fee) provided by Audible.com. I did mean to suggest the DNC content made available through iTMS is sourced through Audible. That appears to be the case based on the credit on the content download page for the DNC speeches. The page lists the content provider as C-Span and that the content is presented by Audible.com.

Obviously Apple maintains control what content appears on iTMS. I do agree this is not a partisan move and expect to see RNC content also made available.

Audible is making political content available for distribution in digital form for free as a public service. Not just convention speeches but also important public hearings.

I follow Audible on a daily basis and I continue to be impressed by the company and its products.


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Close Name:Guest
Sun Aug 01, 2004 12:28 pm Subject: iTMS - DNC speeches not free

I checked iTunes MS this morning for these speeches and found Bill Clinton's was "free" while all others were .95 each.

Another obvious iTMS error....


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Close Name:DawnTreader -   TMO Staff Posts: 15039 Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:21 pm Subject: Re: iTMS - DNC speeches not free

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
I checked iTunes MS this morning for these speeches and found Bill Clinton's was "free" while all others were .95 each.

Another obvious iTMS error....


Funny, the links I found to the DNC speeches on iTMS offers the content for free. Where did you see a charge?


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