Friday, Jan. 23, 2009
Dreamy Downloads
Two years after Napster was shut down for violating copyright law, Apple launched its iTunes store in 2003, offering legal music downloads for 99 cents per song. (iTunes software had debuted in 2001 as a music storage and organization system for Apple computers.) Apple's entry into digital music sales changed the field entirely. The iTunes store was significantly more user friendly than its competitors' services, with a vastly greater library; Apple had the added advantage of being able to tie the store and the software to its hugely popular iPod. In its first week, iTunes sold 1 million songs; within a year, it sold more than 50 million.