Looks like DES will have more of a fight on their hands, with...

Looks like DES will have more of a fight on their hands, with Apple now taking a share of the windows platform.

Apple launches music downloads for Windows

Apple Computer, which shook up the music industry with its online store offering song downloads for 99 US cents, says it will open up the service to users of rival Windows-based computers.

The iTunes music store will seek to broaden the customer base for the service, which has sold some 13 million songs since being launched six months ago.

The service had been available only to those with Apple Macintosh computers.

"The iTunes Music Store has revolutionised the way people legally buy music online, and now it's available to tens of millions more music lovers with iTunes for Windows," said Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs.

iTunes enters a growing field of competitors, including a relaunched Napster, a reincarnation of the original free swapping site by a new owner that is using Apple's 99-cent-per-song formula.

Dell said recently it would launch a music store this year and other services are offered by Musicmatch and buymusic.com.

Apple said its service will have offerings from all five major music companies and some 200 independent music labels, with more than 400,000 songs online by the end of October.

Cheers all dessie holders
mm