Apple to Sell 10 Billionth Song Wednesday

It has been just under seven years since the iTunes store started selling music. Since that time, the iPod and iTunes have overtaken and revolutionized the portable music business and sold a boatload of songs. In fact, Apple is on track to hit the 10 billion downloads mark tomorrow.

According to the download counter on Apple's site, the iTunes Store is nearing its ten billionth download. Based on the current rate of downloads, Apple will hit that milestone sometime tomorrow afternoon, probably between 4pm and 6pm Eastern time.

Of course, that doesn't take into account the possible acceleration of downloads over the next 24 hours. Apple has a promotion going that will give a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card to the person who purchases and downloads the 10 billionth song. Odds are good that many people will start downloading music soon in an effort to get the prize. An extra influx ofdownloaders could speed the process up enough that the 10 billion goal will be reached much earlier.

If you're interested in trying to get the gift card prize (and you have enough music and video interests to use $10,000) pay attention to the counter on Apple's site. Apple told TechNewsDaily that the counter is keeping track of downloads in real-time, so when it gets close to 10 billion, try downloading a few songs.

"The iTunes countdown is in real time, and we do not have a prediction on when it will cross" the 10 billionth mark, Apple spokesperson Jason Roth told TechNewsDaily.

For those who are content to sit back and watch, consider the big picture: iTunes has made Apple an unbelievable amount of money. If every song purchased cost $1, which is a low estimate considering there are many that cost more, Apple has made $10 billion dollars off of this one part of its business structure in 7 years. And that's not taking into consideration the songs that cost more than $1 as well as all the TV shows and other media that are purchased through the iTunes Store.