Secrets of the iPod and iTunes (Fifth Edition) [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Chapter 4. The iTunes Music Store

In the latter days of the 20th century, you would have been hard-pressed to find a more contented group of executives than those who ruled the recording industry. Prices of new audio CDs remained high; the threat of digital copying via such devices as digital audio tape (DAT) recorders had largely been eliminated, thanks to efforts of the industry's legislative lobbyists; and young consumers couldn't seem to get their fill of boy bands and the overexposed navels of blonde chanteuses.

Enter the Internet and an online enterprise named Napstera service that allowed people to "share" music files among themselves. Suddenly, if you had a broadband connection and the will to do so, you were able to help yourself to free music by the bucketful. And, by the hundreds of thousands, people did.