Discussion. 1. How do you listen to music?

1. How do you listen to music? With a CD player? On the internet? Etc.

2. What are the pros and cons of listening to music on an MP3 player?

3. Where do you get your music from?

Digital downloads are the big thing in music. And the iTunes Music Store has just about every band, singer and group imaginable, including Take That, Duffy, James Blunt, KeSha and The Black Eyed Peas. So, why did it take so long for the world's number-one band (The Beatles) to appear on the world's number-one music download site (iTunes)?

It was all down to a copyright issue. Both the Beatles' company (Apple Corps) and the iTunes company (Apple) have the same "apple" trademark, and both claimed the rights to it. After a series of court cases, the legal fight came to an end in 2007, but it took a further three years for the band's music to be made available online. The exact reason for this added delay are not clear, but there are rumours that it had something to do with a problem with record company EMI, who owned the copyright to a portion of The Beatles' music.

Anyway, they're all friends now. "We love The Beatles and are honoured and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes," said Apple boss Steve Jobs. Former Beatle Paul McCartney was equally pleased. "It's fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around." And drummer Ringo Starr had this to say, "I'm particularly glad that I'm no longer asked when The Beatles are coming to iTunes."

Unfortunately, sales haven't been as good as expected. Many thought The Beatles would storm the charts the moment they launched their back catalogue for digital download, but they didn't even make it to the top 10. The fact is, the majority of music sales are still in the classic CD format (only 30% of sales in the UK were digital in 2010). However, experts believe that within 10 years, all music will be sold online. And with the rise of the iPhone (and now the iPad) CD sales are set to fall even more.

Meanwhile, there are still a few musicians and groups who refuse to go on the iTunes site. They include AC/DC, Kid Rock, Garth Brooks, Bob Seger, Def Leppard and Tool. Many don't like the way that iTunes sells individual tracks rather than encouraging people to buy entire albums. AC/ DC front man Brian Johnson said, "Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes... it's going to kill music if they're not careful." But with digital downloads slowly overtaking CD sales, how much longer can they hold out?