Music downloads from Apple's iTunes are now estimated as totalling nearly 13-billion. But it's taking a heavy toll elsewhere in the music retail industry.
HMV has announced it'll be pulling the shutters down permanently on 60 of its stores in the UK over the next year.
Sales from HMV shops this Christmas were 10% down and the company has issued a profit warning leading to a 24% drop in share-price. It blames the bloody awful weather and also what it calls "challenging trading conditions" ie everyone's now downloading music, especially from iTunes.
It's looking increasingly likely that Nipper the music-loving dog may soon be getting the old lethal needle and not of the gramophone kind.
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