Get more value from iTunes

Apple claims that it has sold over 1 billion music tracks through its iTunes store. I bought one myself - just one, I prefer to buy the CDs an rip them using iTunes rather than buying tracks online. That's a different story, but getting back to iTunes, have you noticed that music is sold as separate tracks? Of course you have, but an important question is, what's a track? Or to be more precise, how long is a track?

Popular music tends to be around three minutes long on average and some songs are slightly shorter, while others are slightly longer. Three minutes seems to be the perfect length for a pop single. Here in the UK a track costs £0.79 from the iTunes store, so an hour's worth of music, which is 20 tracks, will cost £15.80 (over $30).

If you only listen to three minute pop singles you will be paying a lot for your music. People with wider tastes in music will find that their collection will be much cheaper. Outside of pop singles, the length of music tracks varies a lot more and it can range from 1 to 60 minutes. If a track is 10 minutes or longer, the Apple store tells you to buy the album, but any tracks less than 10 minutes still cost the same £0.79.

If you search for your favourite artists or composers you will find that there are some long tracks and these are good value for money. If you can find tracks that are 9min 59 secs you will be able to purchase an hour's worth of music (well just a few seconds short of an hour), for £4.74 (around $9). That's a huge price difference.

Try listening to some alternative music, you might like it, and you'll save loads of money.