Hotmail
iTunes has sold more than 3 billion songs
Online store, which opened four years ago, hit 2 billion mark 6 months ago
Tech Holiday Gift Guide |
 10 cool gadgets we really, really want Santa's little helpers have been busy cranking out some great stuff, from connected media players and multitouch screens to wafer-thin HDTVs and groovy netbooks. |
Real Women’s Guide to Technology |
An MSN special that focuses on consumer technologies that can benefit women. |
 | Tech and gadgets videos |
 How green is your TV? Nov. 16: If you're like most people, you have no idea how much energy your television uses. Screens have grown, and so has the amount of electricity used by tv's. Kenneth Lowe, Vizio's co-founder and Vice-President, reacts to the debate over regulating those flat screens. |
 | Video |
 |
Auto Tech |
A better economy may lure buyers, but these trends could seal the deal. |
LOS ANGELES - The iTunes Store said Tuesday it had passed a milestone, selling more than 3 billion songs since launching four years ago.
The milestone came just six months after iTunes, Apple Inc.'s online music download service, surpassed the 2 billion tracks-sold mark. The service launched in April 2003 and it took until February 2006 to sell its first 1 billion songs.
In the first quarter of this year, it was ranked the third-biggest overall music retailer in the U.S., behind No. 1 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co., according to consumer surveys by The NPD Group.
The ranking was based on units sold, not revenue from sales, and counted every 12 tracks purchased online as equivalent to an album in compact disc format.
Apple's line of iPod portable music players has been key to iTunes' popularity.
In April, the Cupertino-based 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.
Shares of Apple fell $3.88, or 2.7 percent, to $137.55 during afternoon trading Tuesday.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM TECH AND GADGETS |
 Tech and gadgets Section Front |
| Add Tech and gadgets headlines to your news reader: |
Resource guide