WalMart has been the single largest US music retailer (Music Industry), but ITunes has become #2 and is expected to pass them this year. The NPD Group issued a report Tuesday that said Apple had outpaced [BestBuy] and [TarGet] to become the No. 2 U.S. music retailer.

• Amazon.com (AmaZon), the e-tailer that used to be synonymous with ordering [CD]-s off the Internet, has opened a music-download store to challenge iTunes.

• It must also be said that not all of Apple's success is due to the growing digital demand. Apple has flat out done a better job of retailing than competitors, Crupnick said. For example, the music industry should follow Apple's lead and direct their attention to Teen Ager-s, Crupnick said. Teens lack credit cards and this often prevents them from buying at almost everywhere but iTunes, Crupnick said. Apple avoids Credit Card-s by pushing the [Gift Card]-s, which teens can pay for at retail locations and then use them to purchase songs online by keying in a code. No credit cards needed.

Apr07'2008 update: Last week, in what could be an omen of this shift, Apple proclaimed that its iTunes store had surpassed WalMart Stores to become the No. 1 source of music sales in the United States. AmaZon, which still sells mostly [CDs], was the No. 3 seller last year but has since lost market share and is now tied with [TarGet] for fourth place. [BestBuy] is No. 3... Amazon does not release sales figures for its digital initiatives, so their initial success is difficult to gauge, although by all accounts the MP3 store has quickly become one of the top sellers of digital music... Mr. Freed said that the KindLe was first and foremost a reading device, but that it could also serve as a Plat Form for at least some of Amazon's other digital offerings. (Digital Media)

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