14 DAY TRIAL // Despite not being in the headlines too much these days, Apple's iTunes Store continues to be doing extremely well and growing its position as a leader in digital music sales. The service has just passed another significant milestone, that of three billion songs.
The service is still going as strong as ever and has recently surpassed both Amazon and Target to become the third largest music retailer in the US. Fueled by the popularity of both the iPod and the iPhone, the iTunes Store shows no signs of stopping.
With a catalog of over five million songs, iTunes is the world's most popular online service, but Apple's iTunes Store also offers 550 television shows and 500 movies. But the popularity of the service is due to content alone. With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as Cover Flow, integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod and iPhone and the ability to turn previously purchased songs into completed albums at reduced prices, the iTunes Store is simply the best way for PC and Mac users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
"We'd like to thank all of our customers who have contributed to this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice-president of iTunes, in the press release.
While so far the video side of the iTunes Store has not been as popular as the audio one, with new devices such as the full screen iPhone and the Apple TV, things are expected to heat up in the future. Similarly new versions of the iPod with bigger screens are also expected to make their appearance and they will no doubt be a major contributing factor. So far Apple has been immensely successful with the iTunes Store and they are showing no signs of letting this success go to their heads. With the constant improvements being brought out, the service is bound to continue being the best for a long time.