The OCC says the 500 millionth download was bought last month. The number equates to eight tracks for every Briton; two albums per UK household or 42,000 60GB MP3 players.

What is more, OCC managing director Martin Talbot says 2010 will be another record period for downloads: by the end of August more than 100m downloads had been bought this year in the UK; if sales continue to grow at the current rate, the number of downloads for the full ...