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In the second week of Feburary this year, the iTunes Music Store sold its 4 billionth song.

Since its launch in 2003 it has risen to become the third largest music retailer in America, and the largest online music store in the world. It has services set up in Australia, the UK, Japan and even Norway.

Creating an iTunes account will allow you to browse and buy from its catalogue of more than five million songs, 550 TV shows and 500 movies. This is done from within Apple's free iTunes music program, which runs on both PC and Mac. You can even download songs directly onto your iPone or iPod Touch, bypassing the computer entirely!

Setting up an iTunes account is easy, even if you've never bought anything online before. You won't even have to hand over your credit card details if you don't want to.

First, if you haven't already, you need to download iTunes. It's avaliable here: www.apple.com/itunes/download

A fter you've installed and started iTunes you will notice an icon on in the tray on the left hand side which says 'Music Store'. Click it and the store should launch. If you're in a country outside the US, it is essential that you make sure you're in the right store, otherwise you won't be able to download anything. Go to the bottom of the page and select your country.

If you don't want to use a credit card then you have to buy an iTunes card, they come in different ammount and are sold world-wide at most supermarkets, service stations and newsagents. Once you've got your card, click the 'Redeem' button at the top of the iTunes Music Store and enter your details.

If you're okay with using your credit card then select a song you wish to purchase, click buy, and you will be prompted to enter your details.

That's it, you're done! Now you can shop away to your heart's content. Most iTunes songs cost around 99 US cents and albums range from $4.99 to $16.99. You can copy your song onto any number of Cds, iPods and up to five computers.

If you're in America you can also rent movies ($3-4) and in some countries you can buy TV shows, or even entire series'.

Don't forget to check out the large range of audiobooks and music videos. Also, take a look at the podcast directory (it's avaliable by clicking the icon on the left of the iTunes window). There you will find an immense variety of free video and audio podcasts.

Learn more about this author, Ben Winsor.
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