p>UK music fans have downloaded more than half a million tracks from legal services this year.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said half a million tracks had been downloaded from legal sites and services such as OD2 and internet service providers (ISPs) such as Tiscali and BT.

The BPI said the download market is growing at a steady, but moderate, rate although it is still way behind that of the US. There, iTunes alone has sold more than 70 million songs through its online store in just over a year. Apple has yet to launch a UK version, although one is expected this summer.

The figures for legal downloads are seen as an important indication that file sharing sites may be beginning to lose their appeal for many, although sales of CDs continued to fall this year.

This time last year, there were virtually no legal downloads, according to the BPI.

Most people used file sharing sites, such as Kazaa and Grokster, to swap music files. This led to a spate of lawsuits against users in the US from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).