iTunes Music Store: 275,000 Songs in 18 Hours


Apple's barely day-old music service has been a smash hit, according to a Billboard story quoted at O'Grady's Powerpage.

The iTunes Music Service recorded downloads of 275,000 songs in the first 18 hours of operation, Billboard's industry newsletter says.

The highly-successful launch has stunned music industry pundits, given Apple's relatively small global user base.

Billboard's newsletter also cites one industry figure who says now it will be a race to see who can get to the Windows market first. Apple is expected to launch a Windows version of iTunes by year's end.

Analysis: Not a bad start at all, although it will be interesting to see whether this level of acceptance and purchasing keeps up, or whether things will settle down somewhat. As far as revenue streams go, the faster Apple get the Windows version of iTunes out, the better.