the itunes store ("iTunes Music Store" before September 12, 26) is an online digital media store operated by apple, which needs to be connected by itunes software. Opened on April 28th, 23, it is currently the number one music store in America [1]. By January 29, iTunes Store had sold more than 6 billion songs, accounting for more than 7% of the global online music sales. [2]

Previously, due to the regulations of record companies, the downloaded music files were restricted in use and were protected by Apple's "FairPlay" digital rights management technology. However, Apple has been committed to promoting DRM-free. First, some independent musicians began to open their music and lifted copyright restrictions. Then EMI and Apple signed a copyright-free music download agreement for some music, but in exchange for the price of 1.29 US dollars per song, the music quality was improved from the original 128Kbit/s to 192 kbit/s. On January 6th, 29, Apple announced that it would convert 8% of the music in the store catalogue to copyright-free, and it will reach 1% in April. The sound quality has been improved to 256Kbit/s[3]

In Asia, at present, only the iTunes Store in Japan contains music download service, and only the subordinate App Store in Greater China is open for purchase and download.