• USA Today, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 12:30 PM

Web sites are latching onto the concept of recommendations as a way to sell new music. One such site--iLike--has attracted more than 10 million users in just a few months.

Last week, AOL introduced AIM Tunes--a plug-in for the popular AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)--that lets consumers tap into the music collections of their instant-messaging contacts, discuss music and actually listen to the songs from their library while connected. Online music-subscription services Yahoo Music, Rhapsody and Napster have offered similar features--including playlist-sharing--but only paying subscribers could hear complete songs.

But even with the explosion in digital sales--unit sales are up 46% in 2007, while CD sales are down 14%, according to Nielsen SoundScan--the music industry continues to suffer. All told, sales were down 6.2% in 2006, with sales of $11.5 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, from $12.2 billion in 2005.

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