MP3 Sales Heading for Stratosphere

MP3 Sales Heading for Stratosphere By Jason Lopez
NewsFactor Network
March 16, 2005 12:57PM

MP3 technology originally was devised as a format for digital audio broadcasting in order to achieve high quality sound with a lightweight data stream. There are emerging formats that might rise in stature solely based on sound quality, but MP3 appears to be the long-term favorite of consumers and manufacturers.

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Sales of MP3 players are sizzling and should continue on a steep upward track for the foreseeable future, says research firm iSuppli, which projects unit sales to hit 132 million by 2009 from the 36.8 million players sold in 2004.

Although Apple Latest News about Apple, the clear market leader, has released less expensive flash memory-based players recently, iSuppli expects Hard Disk Drive players to stoke shipment growth in the coming years.

Sales of HDD-based players comprised 27 percent of the market last year. By 2009, the devices will account for 43 percent of the totalMP3 Latest News about MP3 market.

Unless Sony Latest News about Sony or other electronics manufacturers are able to disrupt Apple’s sales party with compelling new machines, the iPod remains the product to beat.

Vision of Future


MP3 has caught on, so much so that a future replacement technology has not been identified yet, according to iSuppli. “MP3 is going to be around for awhile -- at least 10 years,” said iSuppli analyst Shyam Nagrani. It will overtake the CD format, too, he believes. “The numbers are going up so rapidly, it’s going to happen. I’m not sure when -- but it will happen,” he told NewsFactor.

In the 1990s, some technology futurists had envisioned record stores that did not stock any physical product but made customized CDs for shoppers. Apple’s successful iTunes strategy, along with the iPod, helped to trounce that idea with a model of buying and downloading music online and loading it onto portable devices.

MP3 technology originally was devised as a format for digital audio broadcasting in order to achieve high quality sound with a lightweight data stream. There are emerging formats that might rise in stature solely based on sound quality, but MP3 appears to be the long-term favorite of consumers and manufacturers.

Getting It Right

Information about unit sales is hard to come by. Apple appears to be one of the few companies that releases sales figures. “I would say Apple is number one, followed by Creative Labs and then Rio,” Nagrani noted.

Sony is hoping to return to a leadership position manufacturing music players after its unsuccessful attempt to launch its own proprietary format, devices and online store. Apple followed the same scenario but got it right.

Some analysts applaud Sony’s recent hiring of a Westerner to helm the company, but doubt there is anything Sony can do to wrest the “cool” label away from Apple.

I bet more iPods are filled with free MP3's than purchased DRM infected AAC files. Another reason iPod is doing so well (Apart from hyped marketing) is early access to HD technology and buying up all the supplies.

Am I blind? Did I miss the part about mp3 sales being in the stratosphere or anywhere else, for that matter.

I see players being talked about, but that wouldn't be the same thing now, would it?

I've never bought an MP3...and WILL never buy an MP3...

remember hearing someone say that the MP3 is an inferior version of a song? Well...to me...buying an MP3 song, makes as much sense as me buying a JPEG of a painting, an MPEG of a movie, or furniture made of compressed wood (i.e. particle board)....

I'd rather pay a little extra and get the original and not a knockoff compressed/ lossy version...or, in the alternative...do without.

I am NOT saying that MP3s are bad...heck, with these old ears of mine, sometimes the MP3 SOUNDS better than the CDA on a CD, BUT, as for me shelling out good money to buy a lossy, compression based version of a song...not gonna do it.
~Code

Never say never. Variable bit 320k mp3's sound purty good.

Isn't a DVD, an MPEG of a movie? And I buy those

mpeg2 (The dvd format) was designed with insane quality levels in mind.. to achieve that they occupy insane filesizes.

Keep in mind the time dvd's began to go big there were still pc's with less space than dvds which were considered acceptable.

and no... even 320kbps CBR mp3's fail to pick up the nuance and cut off the high and low ends.

Even more advanced codecs just don't do the job. I guess we'll be waiting for fiber to the home when full uncompressed cdda can be sent in the time of an mp3. then the labels really should look out.

I only buy independent, regardless of the format. But I prefer CD or vinyl. And I can't say I have ever bought a download. Mp3's and ogg's are just ads.
(I have used fairtunes and paypal to send a buck or 2 now and then to indie bands who make free mp3's available though.)

Most downloadable tunes for purchase are DRM infected. ANYTHING with DRM will never see my $$$.

It's good to at least know the mp3 format is going to be here awhile longer. One less thing to have to buy new software for.

I wouldn't call DVD insane quality. It is still compressed, and you still lose some quality in most cases. However, it is very nice. I'm not complaining. Most of the time, if the picture is poor, it is either bad source material or bad mastering. (Looking at David Lynch's Dune on DVD was quite a shock -- very sad that this movie is not available in a high quality release.)

AS for MP3s, I've purchased some from the famous Russian site. I consider it "jukebox quality" at less than jukebox prices. At least their pricing scheme reflects the missing data. LOL.