Pardon the pun, but it looks like Apple is "in store" for great fourth quarter sales of their iPod and iTunes product lines. The digital music website of Playlist.com reports:

iTunes Music Store beat out Tower Records, Sam Goody and Borders Inc. in NPD’s third quarter ranking to crack the top ten for the first time ever, said the NPD Group in a Monday report. The steep climb of the online music service to seventh place from fourteenth during the same time last year reflects the speed at which users are turning to music online.

“With the growing interest in digital music, forecasts of more iPod demand this holiday, plus the stocking-stuffer appeal of iTunes gift cards, we can expect Apple to increase its share even more by year’s end,” said Russ Crupnick, music and movies industry analyst for the NPD Group, in the report.

Hey geof, people really are buying their music from online sources!

Will Sacramento's local Digital Musicworks International be able to take advantage of this trend? Sorry for another bad pun, but, stay tuned.....iTuned that is!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive