Billionth iTunes song

Apple today announced the winner of the Billion Song Countdown promo, which started started earlier this month and ended early Thursday morning. The billionth iTunes song was "Speed of Sound," which was purchased as part of Coldplay's "X&Y" album by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan. As the grand prize winner he will receive a 20-inch Intel iMac, 10 fifth-generation iPods and a $10,000 gift card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store. In addition, Apple will establish a scholarship to the world-renowned Juilliard School in his name. "I hope that every customer, artist and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we’ve achieved together during the past three years," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

"Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet."

by MacNN Staff