What's on your iPod?

by admin June 30, 2006 at 5:01 pm

We are buying the gadgets, but not the music.

While interest in MP3 players and multimedia downloads is rising, more music is being ripped from CDs than downloaded, according to a study released Thursday by Ipsos Insight.

Twenty percent of Americans over the age of 12 own at least one portable MP3 player. Among teens exclusively, ownership reaches 54 percent, according to the study.

That last figure is something the online media industry should be quite pleased to hear, according to Ipsos analyst Matt Kleinschmit. Multimedia downloads such as TV shows, music videos and movies are most popular among the under-25 crowd, he said.

But about 44 percent of all music downloaders use their existing CD collections as their primary source of MP3 player content, and 6 percent rip from the collections of others. Only 25 percent use fee-based music downloads, and even fewer use subscription services, the study reported.

“As the music industry starts to look at this, they are realizing that the idea of the CD as the only product is an antiquated one,” Kleinschmit said. “A product could be a ring tone, bundled with a song, bundled with a music video–taking a step outside of the CD, and moving into an era where people who are younger have a completely different mind-set.”

Full story: CNET News.com