ITunes sells over 3 bln songs

Apple company, which makes the market-leading iPod digital media player, said iTunes has sold more than 3 billion songs since its launching four years ago, media reported Wednesday.

The milestone came just six months after iTunes, Apple Inc.'s online music download service, surpassed the 2 billion tracks-sold mark. The service was launched in April 2003 and, until February 2006, sold its first 1 billion songs.

ITunes has surpassed Amazon.com Inc. and Target Corp. to become the third-largest music retailer in the United States, according to media reports.

The iTunes catalog contains over 5 million songs, 550 television shows and 500 movies. Apple's line of iPod portable music players has been key to iTunes' popularity.

In April, Apple company said it had sold more than 100 million iPods. It reached that milestone in the five and a half years since the first iPod was sold.

Perhaps most importantly, Apple offered not just the downloading service but also the hardware for managing music collections.

"They've made it brain-dead simple to buy, download and move content around onto iPods, computers and now iPhones," said Gartner analyst Mike McGuire.

Analysts refers to this as the digital music "ecosystem," which comprises the hardware, software and downloading service. Each plays a role in giving Apple a leading share of the digital music world. Source:Xinhua/Agencies


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