Apple announced that one billion songs have been legally downloaded from iTunes since its launch just under three years ago.

The billionth song "Speed of Sound" was purchased as part of Coldplay's X&Y album by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan. As the grand prize winner for buying the billionth song he will receive a 20-inch iMac(R), 10 fifth generation iPods and a $10,000 gift card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store.

"I hope that every customer, artist and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we've achieved together during the past three years," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet."

The iTunes Music Store now features a selection of over 3,500 music videos, Pixar and Disney short films, a variety of hit TV shows, 35,000 podcasts, 16,000 audiobooks and more than two million songs from the major music companies and independent record labels.