IDC has predicted that annual sales of compressed audio players will reach 1 billion units by 2009 globally. Of that number, 2.4 million units of MP3 players will be shipped within Australia.

According to Sophie Lo, IDC Research Analyst, Consumer Digital Markets, the portable MP3 player category has seen the most growth in popularity due to the expansion of services that sell songs (legitimately) and the stronger demand for players with flash memory chips.

“In 2004 we saw only 672,000 units of MP3 players shipped out. This year in April IDC predicted the MP3 player units will grow to 1.3 million by the end of this year. Apple products like the iPod Shuffle and now the Nano still holds market share. However broadband penetration has helped facilitate people to download music services from the Internet. There choicer of content for music subscribers. Also users are eagerly anticipating the launch of music facilities like Apple iTunes and Yahoo Music,” she said.

 Lo also believes the line between flash and hard drive products has blurred. With Flash capacity increasing.

 “Flash products appeal to users because not everyone has 3000 songs they want downloaded onto their player. At IDC we believe flash players will grow to 16 gigabyte capacity by 2007. We have already seen it grow from 1 gigabyte to 4 gigabyte. Apple has also produced a flash drive product -the Nano, so it has also helped to blur that line.”