Sony announced this week that they are about to launch a music (video, game and e-book) download platfrom 'Qriocity', and Amazon are rumoured to have another in the pipeline. What significance will this have for the classical recording industry? Is iTunes currently a major force in the classical world? Do you use it? Or are record labels' own sites the future?

It is refreshing to learn that iTunes' monopoly on downloads is being challenged; having said that, I use iTunes regularly, especially if I only want one or two tracks to listen to something I am working on. I am pleasantly surprised at how comprehensive iTunes is for classical music. It would be great if record labels offered their own downloads, it might even safeguard the future of some, but I suspect the big players like iTunes and HMV, and others, will corner the market. In the end the consumer will decide, price and availability surely being the main concerns.

Just as an aside, the main problem with iTunes is that the downloads seem to be incompatible with other systems such as Windows Music Player. It doesn't bother me as I am entirely Apple'd these days.