• February 24, 2006

A quarterly digital music study called TEMPO from media research firm Ipsos Insight confirms that more consumers are downloading digital music for fees, in a trend likely driven by the proliferation of portable electronic audio devices. Just over half of adult and teenage downloaders were willing to pay for the music, but college-age downloaders were relatively less willing to pay, the same study found. The study included the finding that 25 million Americans have paid to download music, including 11 million in the last month. The study also found that almost a third of downloaders would opt for digital music from satellite radio over subscription or "a la carte" music services. It's unclear whether this trend will continue with the introduction of digital radio from terrestrial stations, which will offer much of the same content for free--eventually in a recordable format

--Erik Sass