Talking of Americans and digital music, though not necessarily of the illegal kind, America's Consumer Electronics Association has reported that 70 percent of Americans now carry portable entertainment devices - that's 152 million of them. That statistic is not as surprising as it may first seem because 'portable entertainment devices' covers a wide range of technology, including traditional walkmans and discmans. However, the CEO reckons the most popular portable devices used for entertainment are mobile phones and notebook PCs, which will come as good news to the tel co and computer industries, especially the former who are desperate for their handsets to become media devices.
In the same report, the association says it reckons about 15% of US adults now have MP3 players, which is up from 11 percent from last year. Of those using MP3 players, less than 40% were acquiring music from the internet - many preferring to buy CDs and transfer music from there. Even less were using subscription download services on their portable devices, like those operated by Napster and Real Networks. 16% of those with an MP3 player subscribe, and 35% of those surveyed didn't even know there was the option to use a subscription platform on a portable player, despite high profile marketing campaigns in the last six months from those companies offering that service.