MP3 players stay at top of charts
Dinesh C. Sharma
CNET News.com
December 09, 2003, 16:35 GMT
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Sales of portable music players will grow at 50 percent a year till 2006, according to Jupiter Research
The demand for MP3 players in the United States is poised to grow at a steady rate of 50 percent a year through 2006, signalling better times for the digital music market, claims Jupiter Research.
Shipments of MP3 players should hit 3.5 million in 2003, almost double 2002 figures, Jupiter said in a report issued on Tuesday. It also said that there will be more than 26 million MP3 players in use by 2006. Starting in 2004, the demand for players with hard drives will surpass that of players with flash memory.
New music players and download services such as Apple's iPod and its iTunes store have "energised the music industry," Jupiter said.
The market researcher said that a few more stores and services may soon add their names to a list that includes America Online, Musicmatch, Napster and RealNetworks. While Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Amazon.com will miss the winter shopping season, computer makers Dell and Gateway have already launched MP3 players, according to the report.
"MP3 players are not quite this season's DVD player, but portable music players, combined with online music stores and services, will be a strong holiday shopping combination," David Card, Jupiter's research director, said in a statement.
"Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow." Proverbs 13:11
