The Beginning Of The End For iTunes?

The Daily Mail reports that US company Forrester Research's findings report a slump of 65% in music downloads from the iTunes store. Their deductions are based on a study of about 3000 downloads. Their was a significant decrease in the number and size of the transactions with the store. They are not sure if its just a seasonal disturbance and frankly speaking I suspect that it is one. The holiday season is around the corner and at this time buying new music is not very high up on most people's minds.

But I suppose it is a trend that will grow in the next few years, mainly because of the fierce competition that iTunes will have to handle from other music stores like eMusic and SpiralFrog which will be launched next year. The mp3 files bought from these stores have the huge advantage that they can be played on any device unlike the music bought from iTunes which can only be played on iPods. And Forrester doesn't miss this point when it says that most of the music on iPods around the world are not from iTunes.

Then there is another big reason that could lead to a slump in sales: non iPod mp3 players. They are bound to conquer a big chunk of the market and Apple's services are not compatible with these players.

So are we seeing the beginning of the end for the dominance of iTunes? Only time can tell with any degree of certainty.