Market research firm Forrester Research is prediciting that sales of digitally downloaded music will surpass sales of physical CDs by 2012. The Forrester report, based in part on a survey of more than 5,000 consumers in the US and Canada sees digital downloads growing at a compound annual rate of 23% to $4.8 billion, while CD sales, in steady decline, will be reduced to $3.8 billion. The reasons for their predictions include the following:
- The average MP3 player is only 57% full, suggesting they are underutilized
- With four big music labels committed to eliminating digital rights management (DRM), DRM-free music will extend beyond Amazon.com to Apple iTunes and other online music sites
- DRM-free music enables every profile page on MySpace.com or Facebook to become a music store where friends sell friends their favorite music.
We'll have to wait and see if their predictions come true. Thus far, the music industry as a whole has been resistant to change as technology has changed the way we acquire music. Personally, I think music is an intellectual property and the owner's rights should be respected and I don't mind paying for high quality, high-resolution music from online sites such as iTrax. What's your opinion?
Comments
People have become so used to the lower quality of Mp3’s and other digital formats that don’t remember what music used to sound like, on LP, records, even CDs. I would rather have a cd that I can hold in my hand and then rip into mp3 or do what I want with and have a compressed digital format that will never sound as good as the orginial, If all people have are Mp3 they will never will know what they’re missing…
kenenthlawson.blogspot.com/