iTunes Store still number one music retailer: report

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 07 August 2008 03:50

Business IT - Technology

"Amazon's CD buyers tend to be older, so they haven't abandoned the CD format to the extent seen in the average music buyer," said Crupnick.

"Plus Amazon's successful introduction of its digital download store will help the company improve its position in the future."

Fifth place on NPD's retailer chart goes to Target.

The CD isn't dead - its fate is likely to be closer that of vinyl discs rather than 8-track cartridges and cassettes. But it seems certain that downloads will be the dominant force for the next few years. And Apple can take much of the credit for that change, at least as far as legitimate downloads are concerned.

Two questions, though:

How many people download music and then burn it onto optical discs as a backup?

Where's the download equivalent of the $5 bargain bin?