Time's Invention of the Year: iTunes Music Store

Time's Coolest Invention of 2003 is the iTunes Music Store.

Other inventions this year may have more altruistic intentions (like Dean Kamen's water purifier) or be more visible on street corners (like those ubiquitous camera cell phones). But for finally finding a middle ground between the foot-dragging record labels and the free-for-all digital pirates and for creating a bandwagon onto which its competitors immediately jumped, Apple's iTunes Music Store is Time's Coolest Invention of 2003.

Time provides a rough breakdown of the $.99 that Apple earns from the sale of each song. According to the article, $.65 goes to the record label and $.25 into distribution costs,
leaving at most $.10 of profit for Apple.

Jobs has stated that online music sales is not a money-maker by itself.