Itunes countdown(date crazy)

[moav]

If you set your date to July 15 or after the itunes countdown shows 500,000,000+ downloads. Then I set it for July 2004 and it is counting down backwards from -15000000 kind of strange.

 

[Cheryl]

And you did this experiment because?

When I saw it, I thought some one is just going it sit there and watch the numbers change.

Does it really represent downloads? I am not sure.

 

[fryke]

Of course it doesn't count actual downloads. They're probably using an expected average and correct it from time to time.

 

[ksv]

The actual counter is updated every 5 minutes. The script on the apple site downloads this number and the number 5 minutes before, and determines a probable number of songs sold.

By analyzing the data of the last 500K sales or so, it should be possible to write a program that quite precisely determines when the 500 millionth song is sold, based on patterns in previous activity. Id est, writing an exponential formula that in addition to taking the previous number into account, bases the calculation on every difference in growth since the counter started.

Of course - the buying process would also have to be automated to make the program usable, because of the short time intervals. And a cheater would probably have to buy a few thousand songs to be sure to win.

It also depends on how the store database handles transactions. If entirely procedural and queue-based, the chance of winning by buying a large amount of songs at a given time is greater. Else, the probability could be only a few percent even if the time is determined precisely.

 

[adambyte]

I love math.

 

[Stridder44]

I love math.

I heart waffels.

 

[ksv]

I love math.

Good. You write the algorithm, I write the program and we share the prize