April 28, 2003: Apple opens the iTunes Music Store, revolutionizing the music industry and digital distribution of content.
At a time when getting music online mostly means illegal downloads from pirate services like Napster, iTunes quickly proves that customers will pay for songs — provided the service is good enough.
iTunes Music Store opens
The ability to share free music was one of many major disruptions the internet brought in the 1990s and 2000s. Faster connections made downloading and sharing tracks less painful. And the widespread presence of CD-RW drives (which shipped on around 40% of new PCs by winter 2000) made sharing songs or even whole albums quick and easy.
Read more at CultOfMac.com