(1 July 2006 4:00 pm)

MUMBAI: A new study by global market research firm Ipsos indicates that as many as one in five Americans over the age of 12 now own portable MP3 Players and one in 20 own more than one.

And interest in viewing music videos, photos, TV shows and even full-length movies from these devices is especially strong among younger consumers who have experience downloading music.

New findings released today from Tempo, the company's quarterly study of digital music behaviours, show that 20 per cent of Americans aged 12 and older now own a portable MP3 player. This marks a significant increase over ownership levels found one year ago (15 per cent), and nearly double the proportion of owners found in April 2003 (11 per cent). And in a sign that not only new buyers are driving this trend, 6 per cent of Americans own more than one portable MP3 player.

Total headphone-MP3 sales reached $4.23 billion in 2005, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. These popular devices accounted for 85 percent of all factory-level portable audio sales last year, CEA statistics showed.