iTunes share of the US music market swells to 26.7%

It's amazing that such a rip-off merchant is doing so well. Music bought from fairer sellers is not only far cheaper but is also more portable between devices. I can buy an entire song from Amazon for less than Apple charges for the first few seconds as a ringtone. But, unsurprisingly, the discussion centres around how pretty the iTunes store is, lmao. I guess it boils down to the culture of ignorance Apple encourages: From the moment you get an Apple device form its box you are railroaded and herded into iTunes. I've list count of the number of poor Mac owners I've enlightened - you should see their faces and hear their thanks when I mail 'em that Amazon link.
Apple only stay where they are for two reasons: Selling standard things at inflated prices and retaining customers who are too ignorant or embarrassed to kick 'em into touch.

RE: MP3 "fidelity".

I'm not an "audiophile". MP3 is just fine for my 58 year old ears that still work, after a fashion, after years of rock + headphones + loud amplification.

iTunes on my Mac and the pair of CREATIVE computer speakers is all I require for my music listening needs.

it makes sense... Apple has put out 100 million devices that can put music in your ear faster than anything out there and for an easy price.

You can be sitting in the car, hear a song, look it up in itunes and buy it, it downloads and you have it and are listening to it. iTunes makes it easy to find music and sample it before purchase, in some ways much easier than any retail outlet.

If you hear something you like, you don't have to go anywhere to buy it, it's right in front of you in a painless purchase.

Stealing music (austensibly from torrents) requires time to find, time to download, and the existence of seeders and favorable network weather.

itunes works, it's legal, and it's affordable. It's a no brainer why it keeps growing while others languish... (*ahem* plays for sure anyone?)

I've stopped using iTunes stores since they went to the new cluttered ugly slow interface. Amazon is much easier and faster to find what I'm looking for.

Music Related products and services section made 1.3B in revenue in Q2 2010. Thats 10% of total revenue.

What happened to the "people won't buy digital media that they can just steal" talk?

Amazon is a distant 5th. Fifth place!

Whodathunkit?

What happened to all the "Amazon MP3 store is going to put iTunes out of business" talk? I guess it's hard to deliver on being a giant killer with only 1.3% marketshare?

Um, miss your alpha mask on the iTunes icon there?