MP3 Player Market Set to Explode

• The market for digital audio players is expected to nearly quadruple over the next four years, reaching 104 million units by 2009, according to research firm In-Stat.
• Over 27.8 million players were shipped last year alone.
• A bigger selection of legitimate download sites and lower prices were cited as reasons for continuing growth in the market.
• Also cited were smaller disk drives and bigger Flash memory capacities, meaning units were becoming smaller yet able to hold the same or more music than their predecessors.
• Revenue for digital audio players reached $4.6 billion in 2004, double that of the year previous.
• And revenues will continue to rise as 3 out of every 4 Americans still do not own a digital audio player - one-quarter of American survey respondents said they own one, up from 16 percent in 2001.
• According to In-Stat research, Apple continued to lead all companies with just over 30 percent of the combined Flash and hard-disk based market.
• In-Stat expects 1GB or larger Flash-based players to make up over 20 percent of all Flash-based MP3 player sales by year's end, and a significant portion of overall sales.
• This does not mean, however, that Flash-based players are expected to take over HDD-based players as the storage method of choice among manufacturers.
• "I expect demand for both memory formats will always exist," In-Stat analyst Stephanie Guza told BetaNews.
• She expects music enthusiasts will always grativate toward HDD players, as they will be able to carry their entire music libraries with them.
• "On the other hand, there will be a wide audience that is price-sensitive and does not require loads of memory space, especially first-time MP3 player buyers," said Guza.
• "I expect these customers will turn to lower-priced, Flash-based MP3 players."