Album sales in the US fell 14 per cent in 2008 to 428.4m units, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks retail sales data. The new touch-sensitive device Apple is working on will have a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally. It will connect to the internet like the iPod Touch – probably without phone capability but with access to Apple’s online stores.

the goal, apparently, is to spark sales of digital albums, with a nod to the music-listening habits of a bygone era. While Apple has long sold albums over iTunes, the online music store is renowned for the fervor with which customers download single tracks. Apple already makes album cover art available through the Cover Flow feature in iTunes. Apple has been trying variations on the theme for a while, including album cards purchased at retail outlets with download codes and its iTunes originals.

This would be “a new type of interactive album material, including photos, lyric sheets and liner notes that allow users to click through to items that they find most interesting.” In an intriguing twist, the format would allow listeners to bypass iTunes by letting them play music directly from the “album.”

With variable pricing now in place, the labels could find a way if not to boost sales, at least to make more. (The “deluxe” edition of Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown with two extra tracks is $14.99; the standard is $11.99. Both include a digital booklet.)

“It’s all about re-creating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music,” said an executive cited by the Financial Times.

In 2008, according to industry tracker Nielsen, consumers bought over 1 billion digital tracks, compared with just 65 million digital albums. In both cases, the numbers were up significantly from the preceding year. All told, however, the number of albums sold in 2008–including CDs, LPs, and digital albums–fell 14 percent to 428 million.

Apple is gambling that it can succeed where everyone else has flopped, including Microsoft, which tirelessly pushed a tablet-ready version of its Windows operating system as a personal favourite of founder Bill Gates.

The entertainment industry is hoping that Apple, which revolutionised the markets for music players and phones, can do it again with the new device.

“It’s going to be fabulous for watching movies,” said one entertainment executive. Book publishers have been in talks with Apple and are optimistic about their services being offered with the new computer, which could provide an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle.