iTunes Sells 500 Millionth Song

Apple announced on Monday that a Lafayette, Indiana woman had downloaded the 500 millionth song on iTunes Sunday, Faith Hill's "Mississippi Girl." Amy Greer will receive ten iPods of her choice, as well as a 10,000-song gift card and an all-expenses paid trip to see Coldplay. Apple is now selling some 1.5 million songs per day.

Along with the announcement of the contest winner, Apple said that subscriptions to podcasts from its directory had reached five million just three weeks after support had been added with the launch of iTunes 4.9. Apple's podcast directory includes some 6,000 free audio programs, making it one of the largest on the Web, the company said.