The iTunes Store, originally the iTunes Music Store, is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, and has been the biggest music vendor in the United States since April 2008, and the biggest music vendor in the world since February 2010. It offers over 28 million songs, videos, e-books and apps for sale online. The iTunes Store's revenues in the first quarter of 2011 totalled nearly US$1.4 billion and, by February 6, 2013, the store had sold 25 billion songs. Following the February 6 milestone, the Apple corporation claimed that it is the world's most popular music store, with a catalog that consists of over 26 million songs that are available in 119 countries. While most downloaded files initially included usage restrictions enforced by FairPlay, Apple's implementation of digital rights management, iTunes later initiated a shift into selling DRM-free music in most countries, marketed as iTunes Plus. On January 6, 2009, Apple announced that DRM had been removed from 80% of its music catalog in the U.S. Full iTunes Plus availability was achieved in the U.S. on April 7, 2009, coinciding with the introduction of a three-tiered pricing model; however, television episodes, many books, and films are still FairPlay-protected. As of September 2012, the iTunes Store possesses 400 million active user accounts, and serves over 315 million mobile devices, including iPods, iPhones and iPads. Wikipedia [ - ]

The iTunes Store, originally the iTunes Music Store, is a software-based online digital media... [ + ]