The L.A. Times is reporting that iTunes has surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number 1 music store. We’ve heard previous announcements from Apple of them passing the #3 and #2 spots for music sales, but this is a major achievement for the online music store.

Despite the success that iTunes has had, other major online music stores have not been as successful. It seems that the strategy of combining the number 1 portable music player with an easy to use media management application and online music store provides the perfect ingredient for success..

The movement to #1 for Apple has definitely helped them financially. The article from the L.A. Times explains that:

Apple doesn’t disclose financial results for iTunes. But in the first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 29 it reported $808 million in revenue for a category that includes iTunes store sales, a 27% jump from the same quarter the previous year.

I know I personally use the iTunes application for both purchasing and managing my music. And even though I don’t feel like I buy music often, over the past 5 years I’ve collected over 300 tracks from iTunes. Grant it a few of those were for full albums, but that still puts my spending costs very close to $300. How much money have you spent on music from iTunes?

You can create a playlist of all the song’s you’ve purchased to help you find out.

Alexa, one of the leading website ranking services, has finally developed a tool to give Mac users a voice.  Thanks to Macenstein.com for their details on the announcement.

Interesting enough, the tool is designed for Firefox users, so if you’re perfer Safari on your Mac (Like I do, and 80% of visitors to Maciverse.com) then you’ll have to be happy with not being counted.

Head over to Macenstein.com for additional details.

The folks over at the Mozilla Project were pleased to announce the release of their latest version of Firefox yesterday.

In fact, they even went for a world record of number of downloads in a day. Firefox has been continually increasing in browser market share over the past few years and is causing Microsoft much more heart burn than say Safari itself. Even causing Microsoft’s IE team to send a cake to the Firefox team congratulating them on the release

Mozilla is confident that their latest version of Firefox will convert even more people to their browser. So, if you’re a Firefox user or just like to try out another browser, head on over to Mozilla and download Firefox 3.0 for your respective Operating System (OS X, Linux, Windows).

If Firefox isn’t for you, be sure to check out 10 ways to enhance your Safari browsing experience.

If you’re a Mac gamer then you’ve probably been following closely EA’s soon to be released game SPORE.  Yes, unlike most games, SPORE will be released for both the Mac and PC simultaneously.

Well, today is a special day for all you interested in getting your hands on anything to do with the SPORE game.   EA has released the SPORE CREATURE CREATOR for both the PC and MAC.  Head over to the spore website to download the creature creator for Mac.

Feel free to create a unique Spore and let us know about your experience in the comments!

June has started off strong again for Maciverse with a number of first time visitors.  As always We love to hear feedback and appreciate everyone’s comments.

Below are some of the most read articles at Maciverse over the past few weeks:

1. The Case of the Slow Mac and How to Fix it - Noticed reduced performance in your Mac lately?  Check out this article to see what may be your problem.
2. Does your Mac need Virus Protection? - See what Apple’s official stance on the subject is.
3. Virtualbox, Parallels on a Budget - Want to run Windows on your Mac but don’t want to spend the money… Read up on the Free solution.
4. Add Holidays to iCal - A quick tip on how to quickly add Holidays to your iCal calendars.
5. iPhoto Sharing with Picasa Web - Another way to quickly share your iPhoto pictures with people over the web.

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