CULTURAS IN VITRO
Confidential Apple music details leaked: An insight into the success of Apple's online music service has been provided by leaked details from a meeting with representatives from the independent record industry.
According to notes published on the web, Apple has sold 3.5 million songs since it launched its iTunes music store at the end of April
The computer manufacturer is selling about 500,000 songs a week and about half of those are sold as albums, allaying fears that people would choose individual tracks instead of a whole record. [...]
The iTunes store has more than 200,000 songs from artists such as U2, Eminem and Sting for sale at 99 cents (62 pence) each.
The service got off to a flying start, selling a million tracks in its first week. [...]
So far the iTunes service is accessible to fewer than 5% of the world's computer users - those owning an Apple Macintosh and living in the United States.
A Windows version of iTunes is planned for later this year, and an overseas expansion is also on the cards.
Media chiefs express fears of digital piracy: For all of the new ways that digital technology and high-speed Internet connections are making music and movies available, many of the nation's media giants remain profoundly fearful that online distribution will open the door to massive piracy.
Big Names Ready to Rival Apple: Will Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo launch their own music services?