Audio, which led the way into the digital age for home entertainment products with the introduction of the CD player nearly a quarter century ago, had a strong year spurred by the dramatic increase in sales of portable digital music players. Consumers now have a wide selection of choices to listen to pre-recorded music, ranging from the mass market CDs to SACD or DVD-audio for the more discriminating listener.
There's even a mildly resurgent niche market for turntables, a result of their popularity as a music source for innovative DJs in clubs. Led by Apple's fashionable iPod, the MP3 music category more than tripled in dollars and units in 2005 as the world embraced digitally delivered music. Unit sales of MP3 players passed 22 million, while dollar volume exceeded $3.7 billion. Units and dollars are expected to continue to climb in 2006.
Other areas of audio held their own in this transition from pure audio to home theater. Home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) units and separate audio components showed slight declines, and home radio remained a tremendous value for consumers. Digital terrestrial radio, HD Radio, is at the starting line with programming and radios due in force this year.
