Apple this morning revealed that some 1 billion songs have now been downloaded legally from its site since it was launched less than three years ago. Apple CEO Steve Jobs heralded the milestone as a key victory in the battle against music piracy.
The billionth song, Speed of Sound, was purchased as part of Coldplay’s X&Y album.
The song was downloaded by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan who is the grand prize winner.
Ostrovsky will receive a 20-inch iMac, 10 fifth generation iPods and a $10,000 gift card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store. In addition, Apple will establish a scholarship to the world-renowned Juilliard School of Music in his name to commemorate this milestone.
The iTunes Music Store now features a selection of more than 3,500 music videos, Pixar short films, 35,000 podcasts, 16,000 audiobooks and more than two million songs from the major music companies and independent record labels.
The iTunes Music Store is also the world’s most popular video download store with more than 15 million videos purchased and downloaded.
“I hope that every customer, artist and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we’ve achieved together during the past three years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
“Over 1 billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the internet.”
By John Kennedy
