At the beginning of the decade, most people went into actual stores and bought actual CDs – until they learned from Napster and for a short period were able to download an unlimited amount of songs for free.

At the beginning of the decade, I remember clearly sitting in the backseat of my sister’s car, sifting through a huge box of CDs, finding for the exact song we wanted to listen to. I have also learned to carry my bulky, battery-powered Walkman portable CD player, that if only slightly jostled, would skip, ruining my personal jam session.

It’s almost hard to believe that consumption of music has changed. The popularity of CDs is become fading, and it seems that Apple Empire is slowly taking over.I must admit I’ve jumped on the Apple bandwagon, and i have never regretted it.

The iPod was launched in 2001 but gained popularity in the United States. during the mid-decade. Not only did this single device change the physical way we listen to music, but it changed the way music is sold, bought and stored.

When the iPod and its partner, iTunes, first hit the scene, people were skeptical, but the device has helped to launch the music industry in the digital music era. Instead of physically taking out one CD from a music player and replacing it with another, people can instantly change from album to album, song to song and artist to artist with one scroll of a wheel.

Music listeners are no longer burdened by large box of CDs full of their favorite tunes.You can contain up to 40,000 songs in your pockets – and even more on your computer.

When I am interested in buying latest album from an artist, instead of running to the nearest music store, I can sit in my room and download from iTunes, Amazon or any number of Web sites selling music. Then, after buying almost any song that I can create an unlimited number of playlists.

Internet music is also becoming the new trend. Websites like Pandora offer people the option of listening to music they don’t own.

I remember one time when CDs were relatively new and replacing cassette tapes, but I never thought about what would comes after.

With these major changes in digital music over a decade, I can not wait to see what surprises us in the next 10 years.