Do you own an mp3 player? According to a recent survey, if you answered yes to that question, you probably own an iPod. Apple’s iPod [ http://www.apple.com/ipod/ ] is so incredibly ubiquitous that according to a recently published European study, more than 49% of mp3 player owners have an iPod; and the market share for flash based and hard drive based mp3 players is only expected to continue to rise in the coming years.

According to the article:

The rapidly growing worldwide market for Flash-based and hard disk drive (HDD)-based players is to jump from 140m units in 2005 to 286m by 2010, according to a report from market research firm In-Stat. Drivers for this market include falling price points, the availability of legitimate subscription and pay-per-download online music sites, increasing Flash memory capacities, and enhanced functionality.

In-Stat also published the survey results, and stated that the market share is likely much higher in western nations where the iPod is viewed as more of a status and cultural symbol as well as a quality player, but drops significantly in many asian markets, where exceptionally cheap, low-storage, low-cost (in some cases, as little as $25 USB) mp3 players flood the market. Even so, demand for the new generation of portable music players is only increasing, and manufcaturers will have to continue innovating the field by adding more useful features like video playback to their devices.

[ Digital Media Europe :: 49% of MP3 Player Owners Own an Apple iPod – Survey ]