Bloomberg - along with just about everyone else - is off and running today with a just-released Forrester report that says that iTunes sales were off 65% in the first six months of 2006. "The decline is a reversal after almost two years of increases from April 2004 through January 2006," reports Bloomberg. "Between January and June of this year, iTunes transactions declined 58 percent, while transaction size fell 17 percent."

But surely if iTunes sales are off, the difference is being made up elsewhere, like in hardcopy sales. Nope. Instead, "there's simply been a general decrease across the board in the whole 'music buying scene,'" writes Darren Murph at Engadget. According to Murph, the only glimmer of hope comes from the previously un-chic world of streaming music services. Think Real Rhapsody. "Interestingly, analysts are theorizing that the DRM-era may actually be winding down in favor of 'blanket licensing,' which was cast aside just years ago in favor of the 'per purchase' approach."

OK, The Browser is stumped. We're not surprised to hear that iTunes sales are slowing. Once the thrill of instant gratification wore off, we went right back to buying CDs the old fashioned way. Why download an album when, for more or less the same price, you can get DRM-free songs plus a nifty CD with liner notes from Amazon? And sure, we've been having a blast today listening to Pandora, but that only prompts us to buy more new CDs. What are we missing? Speak up you Rhapsody lovers.

[Update Tuesday 6:27PM - Bloomberg has amended its story to include a response from Apple: "iTunes spokesman Tom Neumayr said the report is 'simply incorrect.'" OK, we're the first to be skeptical of Forrester, but usually we take issue when they wax overly optimistic. Moreover, it's hard to sympathize with Apple when it is unwilling to break out its iTunes revenues. We'll keep on an eye on it....]