iTunes Tunes out Amazon

iTunes is now the third largest music retailer in the country in terms of albums sold, according to NPD Group, a market research provider. iTunes lags behind only WalMart and Best Buy, and leads Amazon and Target.

(In order to compare iTunes to the more traditional outlets, NPD counted each 12 tracks sold on iTunes as the equivalent of an album sold elsewhere.)

With iTunes commanding so many sales, it may put more pressure on Apple to allow those songs to be played with competing technologies. European regulators are already trying to force the company to do so. The vast majority of iTunes music can only be played on the iPod or on iTunes. But Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, recently blamed this on the technical difficulties of adding copyright protections to those songs, which most of the music labels demand.