August 18, 2005
...but that 6% MEANS something...
There's an article on Gizmodo this week about how portable CD players are still outselling digital music players by a wide margin. The article quotes an IDC survey that says while 53% of all US households have a portable CD player, six percent have some sort of digital music player.
Six percent, folks. Think about that the next time you read a breathless article about how podcasting is changing the world as we know it, and you'd better join the legions of white-headphone-wearers or you'll be cast to the.... well, someplace where unhip people go.
The author refers to the higher cost of iPods and other digital players being a factor in that low number, but the most poignant part of the article is this:
The other reason you have to factor into the CD player’s continued reign, of course, is that digital audio remains too convoluted for the AOL demographic. Too few MP3 players feature direct encoding; given the inherent laziness of mankind, too few people are willing to use their computers as intermediaries, despite the obvious long-term benefits of having all your music in a single location. And here’s the real kicker in the CD’s favor: Since the latest generation of portable CD players can accomodate MP3- and WMA-encoded discs, too, folks can tote around 100 or so songs on a single sliver of media.
A technology has to appeal to the masses and be ridiculously usable before it can become really successful: it has to become an appliance. Until the technology companies get their act together and make it easy for Grandma to use their products, the numbers will remain low.
Posted by jtl at August 18, 2005 10:18 PM