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Apple Inc. has surpassed Wal-Mart to become America’s No. 1 music store, the first time that a seller of digital downloads has ever beaten the big CD retailers.

Video game companies and other software makers are selling more of their products as downloads rather than CDs.

Songs could be downloaded faster than movies or TV shows, both legally and illegally.

Digital music was a $1.3 billion business in 2007, but it still only comprised 10 percent of consumer music spending

compete with Apple and the future of music CD sales.

“The challenge remains for the industry to find new ways to compete with Apple, who remains the dominant player for portable media devices,”

is reportedly preparing

The world's largest music corporation,

Vivendi's Universal Music Group

Sales from Apple's music-related products and services, which include iTunes, rose 38% from a year earlier to $832 million for the quarter ended Sept. 27

Apple sold 11.1 million iPods during the quarter, up 8% from a year earlier.

rising revenue from songs and albums bought on the Internet failed to offset the consumer flight from CDs.

CD sales was down 13 percent last year compared with 2005

A year after Apple Computer Inc. launched its iTunes Music Service, the online music industry is selling songs by the millions

Customers at three of the leading online services – iTunes, Musicmatch Inc.’s Musicmatch Downloads and RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody – buy about 10 times as many singles as they do albums. Offline, people buy 50 times more CDs than singles.

music lovers buying a few 99-cent singles instead of $15 CDs.

Looks like a pillar of iTunes content might be on the brink of collapse -- Universal Music, the world's largest music business, has officially opted not to renew its contract with Apple for vending music on the iTunes Music Store. We don't know specifically what caused Universal to turn away -- perhaps it's the weight of the rising anti-DRM movement among consumers, or perhaps it's because of Stevie J.'s brash negotiating tactics, continual refusal to hand over iPod cash, or oceanic persistence in keeping tracks locked in at $0.99. Whatever the reason, we can't say we're all that surprised; Universal's been a pain in Apple's ass for years now. So what's the end result? Well, Universal music will still be sold through iTunes at will, so that means consumers can keep buying tracks for the time being, but Apple runs the risk of losing Universal's content on very short notice if the companies don't make happy with one another and put pen to paper once more.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) moved down nearly 4%, probably based on the Nokia news. Since both PC and handset sales are weak, Apple has some real exposure.

Research from the music video game industry showed slow sales and Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) took big tumbles.

Black fur covers its ears, eyes, muzzle, legs, and shoulders, while the rest of its coat is white

thick, wooly coat

large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles

Chinese people call the panda "Da xiong mao,"

"giant bear cat"