More Teens Moving Away From Buying Music CDs

Ten years ago you could find local teenagers at a record store, but now they are in front of computer screens downloading music from iTunes or using Lime Wire or other miscellaneous download sites and applications.

iTunes has sold more than 5 billion songs, according to a company news release, making it the top music retailer in the United States.

More teenagers are embracing the change to digital music compared to those still attached to compact discs. According to The NPD Group, a marketing research organization, 48 percent of U.S. teens did not purchase a CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006.

In October 2007, Radiohead released its first digital album, "In Rainbows," without a record label and allowed fans to pay what they wanted for the album, if they wished to pay at all. According to Rollingstone.com, the band made more money selling through the Web site than it would have made through a label.