Apple Computer, maker of the iPod digital music player, said second-quarter earnings soared more than sixfold as the devices propelled sales and helped win new customers for more profitable Macintosh computers.

Net income surged to $290 million, or 34 cents a share, from $46 million, or 6 cents, a year earlier, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple said in a statement yesterday. Sales rose 70% to $3.24 billion. The results topped Apple’s forecast for profit of 20 cents on revenue of $2.9 billion.

Profit and sales this quarter may trail analysts’ highest estimates. The chief executive, Steve Jobs, in January released the least-expensive Mac in the machine’s 21-year history and a lower priced iPod, a $99 version called the Shuffle that is helping woo first-time Mac buyers. The new models pulled down average prices, the chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said.

“The guidance they’ve given seems to be very conservative,” said Gene Munster, a Piper Jaffray & Company analyst in Minneapolis. He rates Apple “outperform” and doesn’t own the shares.

Sales will rise to $3.25 billion and profit will be 28 cents a share this quarter, Apple said. Analysts’ highest estimates reached 32 cents, and sales projections surged as high as $3.74 billion, according to a Thomson Financial survey.

Apple shares fell 19 cents to $40.85 in extended trading after the report. They had dropped $1.62 to $41.04 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading and have advanced 27% this year after tripling last year.

IPod sales rose to 5.31 million players, and Mac shipments reached a four-year high of 1.07 million.

“In our retail stores, low to mid-40% of the people who are buying Macs haven’t owned a Mac before,” Mr. Oppenheimer said in the interview. Apple views that at as a sign that it is winning over users who have traditionally bought lower-priced Microsoft Windows-based PCs, he said.

Sales of iPod, Apple’s fastest-growing product, leapt to $1.01 billion from $264 million a year earlier. Apple has sold more than 15.3 million since Jobs introduced the device in October 2001.

Apple said profit would have been 35 cents a share in the second quarter, excluding some costs. Analysts expected profit of 24 cents on sales of $3.21 billion, the average of 22 estimates in a Thomson Financial survey.

“The tremendous franchise value that the iPod is creating is exposing Apple to a much broader audience,” Barry Jaruzelski, a technology analyst for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. in New York, said before the report. “The design, the ease of use, the hip factor – this is opening a lot of people’s eyes.”

The iPod is the best-selling, hard-disk based player in the U.S., capturing 85% of the market in the 12 months ended in February, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based researcher NPD Group.

IPod sales benefited from the Shuffle, the smallest and least expensive player in a lineup that includes eight models that sell for $99 to $449.

Apple sells two versions of the Shuffle, each weighing less than an ounce and about the size of a pack of gum: the $99 model holds 120 songs, and a $149 version holds 240 tracks. Both models use less-costly flash memory technology, instead of hard-disk drives like other iPods.

A Merrill Lynch & Company analyst, Steve Milunovich, expected Apple to sell 4.5 million iPods last quarter, including 1.5 million shuffles. Bill Shope of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. anticipated 5.6 million units, including 2.5 million shuffles.

A redesigned iMac, which combines the computer and monitor in a single unit, buoyed sales in the past few quarters. To keep momentum going, Mr. Jobs in January released the $499 Mac mini, a book-sized PC that sells without a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Apple also hopes to court customers with a new version of the Mac operating system software designed to make it easier for consumers to use. The company said Tuesday that Mac OS X Version 10.4, codenamed “Tiger,” will go on sale April 29.