Now trailing only Wal-Mart, iTunes is the number two (legal) source of music distribution with 50 Million customers and 4 billion songs sold. They pushed past Best Buy and Target, who trail 3rd and 4th respectively.

From the Associated press:

About 10 percent of music acquired in the U.S. was through legal downloads in 2007, and consumers who bought digital music legally through pay-to-download Web sites grew by 5 million to 29 million in 2007, NPD said Tuesday.

With iTunes’ position as #1 internet retailer of music, I guess that most people figured out that those other digital music servicing sites (where you pay by the month and once you stop your membership your songs go bye-bye) are totally garbage. And more and more youngsters aren’t even buying hard-copies of the music either:

From MacWorld:

NPD says that 48 percent of US teens did not purchase a single CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006. The report estimates that one million consumers dropped out of the CD buyer market in 2007.

I guess that’s also because owing an iPod is SO COOL!!!!!!!!

…uh…

Yep, apparently so. I guess myself and the rest of the civilized world hadn’t really taken much notice. Well, now I guess Rhapsody is swallowing up their flimsy business in hopes of consolidating a losing venture.

Spin City:

“Our partnership with Rhapsody, the acquisition of FoxyTunes and the release of the web-based Yahoo! Media Player moves Yahoo! Music closer to our goal of enabling users to play all of the music on the Web,” said Yahoo’s vice president of video and media applications, Ian Rogers. “But, it doesn’t end there. Yahoo Music will continue to innovate and forge new ways to marry music content with the rich content of the Internet[s].”

I’m sure this has nothing to do with Microsoft’s looming shadow.

Whatever, I always thought the “all-you-can-eat” music business model was faulty. it’s like being in a book of the month club, only when you fail to renew your subscription someone comes in and takes all your books that you “bought.” BS. I still buy CDs.