Apple may already be aware of the fact that not all the mp3 files that folks listen to on their iPods actually come from iTunes store. It has to be accepted that digital music didn't really alter much of people's buying habits since everyone still checks out filesharing sites to download free music. Others just simply rip the files from a friend's CD.

Jupiter Research reports that on the average, only around20 of the tracks on an iPod were bought via iTunes, and the rest are from the free sources that were mentioned earlier. The report also showed that 83% of iPod users don't buy from iTunes at all, and those who do so only buy single tracks at a frequency of around once a month.

But then again, it doesn't take statistics to tell us that digital music fans still prefer free stuff, digital or otherwise. Despite the success of iTunes, it is inevitable that music files will still come from somewhere else, and this is an issue that Apple can't take for granted and would probably have to eventually come to terms with.