Earlier this year, for the first time ever, Apple's iTunes music store surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US. According to an NPD Group report, during January and February, iTunes outsold online music stores like Rhapsody and Amazon.com as well as traditional brick and mortar stores such as Best Buy, Target, and Borders.
The battle for online seems to be heating however. Apple's closest digital competitor, Amazon.com, is currently number four in the US music market but has begun a new aggressive pricing structure for their DRM free music. Amazon has introduced special weekly promotions that put popular and high profile albums on sale for $ 3.99-5.99. But with the good comes the bad: taking the road iTunes refused to go down, Amazon is allowing labels to set a sliding price for their tracks. This means while most tracks will stay 89-99 cents, some tracks will cost more depending on the length of the track or popularity. It has yet to be seen if these either of these two marketing schemes from Amazon can take a bite out of Apple.
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