The NDP Group’s MusicWatch digital division recently released a new report that shows a measured change in the MP3 hard-drive footprint. The report compared MP3 to rival file types such as WMA (Windows) and AAC (used by Apple). It indicates a slip in MP3’s footprint, while both other formats have gained space overall.
The report suggests that users are still getting MP3s and putting them on hard drives, but are deleting them at a rate faster than they’re acquiring them. The report concludes that the perception has become that downloads are more disposable than rips (copies from a CD). Currently, the lion’s share of MP3s are downloads.
The analysis speculates that MP3 is evolving into a format used to sample music or keep it temporarily, while the rival formats from Apple and Microsoft are being used for permanent digital-music collections.
For more information, visit www.npd.com.
