: At its peak, iTunes was responsible for 70% of all digital music sales , crushing most competitors and changing how record labels functioned. The Modern Shift: Ownership vs. Access

The story of buying digital music is a tale of a revolution that turned the industry upside down, moving from physical ownership to "renting" access through the cloud. The Wild West: Napster and the MP3

: Digital purchases often offer high-resolution formats (like FLAC or WAV) that provide better audio quality than standard streaming.

: For the first time, people could legally "buy" individual digital tracks instead of entire $15 CDs.