iTunes has proved that people are willing to pay a reasonable amount for a clean and predictable music downloading experience. An interesting hybrid service is launching in the new year in the UK. Playlouder MSP is calling itself a "music service provider," providing users with their broadband connection and allowing them to download as much music as they want legally, sharing only licensed tracks from the labels signed up with the service. In return for licensing their catalogues, record labels will receive a portion of the subscription fee.

What Next?

Since we measure what we deem important, the fact that Nielsen SoundScan now monitors individual song sales on the paid download sites is highly significant - it reported $3.2 million worth of individual tracks in October, more than double the number sold in July. Technology-oriented research company JupiterMedia predicts digital music downloads will total $1.1 billion in '04 and $3.2 billion in '08. Worldwide music sales were $32 billion in 2002.

Although many issues are yet to be resolved and "free" is tough competition, with increasing availability, decreasing prices, and increased public awareness, 2004 is the year paid music services will turn the future into the present.