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The latest figures from the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) show that 180 million downloads were sold in the first six months of this year, more than three times the 57 million figure for the first half of 2004. The total number of downloads, so far, for 2005 is already in excess of the total for the whole of last year, 157 million. Coincidentally, there has also been a trebling of the number of downloads stores, with 300 sites now operating worldwide.

Despite the growth of digital sales and high-profile legal action against unauthorised file sharers in 11 countries including the UK, the number of songs available on peer-to-peer file sharing networks refuses to fall, in fact showing a slight increase since January this year. The IFPI says that according to its research more than one-in-three file sharers have stopped because of the threat of legal action, and this appears to

'We are now seeing real evidence that people are increasingly put off by illegal file-sharing and turning to legal ways of enjoying music online,' said John Kennedy, IFPI CEO. 'Whether it's the fear of getting caught breaking the law, or the realisation that many networks could damage your home PC, attitudes are changing, and that is good news for the whole music industry.'

UK music buyers are at the vanguard of the digital music revolution, with downloads 10 times higher than last year, though the vast majority of sales continue to be in the US, where the dominant legal services have been around for much longer.

Music subscription services also showed some growth, with 700,000 signing up since the beginning of the year bringing the total to 2.2 million. Impressive as this is - a 50 per cent growth rate - it seems that users generally prefer the pay-once download model.

Apple's iTunes Music Store has the biggest catalogue with 1.5 million songs, followed by Napster with 1.2 million. Given that Apple's own figures show that it has sold 200 million songs in the past four and a half months while iPod sales continue to rise, its long-held dominance of the market shows no sign of faltering.