The arrival of the iPod marked a sea change in the audio equipment market. Sales of MP3 players have grown dramatically at the expense of other portable music players, especially CD players. In the home, CDs remain the dominant format but are increasingly played on PCs and laptops – this change has adversely impacted the sale of conventional home audio equipment.

The question now is whether MP3 players have a future. In the portable music market, newer devices, notably MP4 players and mobile phones, threaten them with improved music-playing capabilities.

The arrival of the iPod marked a sea change in the audio equipment market. Sales of MP3 players have grown dramatically at the expense of other portable music players, especially CD players. In the home, CDs remain the dominant format but are increasingly played on PCs and laptops – this change has adversely impacted the sale of conventional home audio equipment.

The question now is whether MP3 players have a future. In the portable music market, newer devices, notably MP4 players and mobile phones, threaten them with improved music-playing capabilities.

MP3 players are becoming a more flexible way to store music – it can be played in the home, on the move, for example. But even this role may diminish as new generations of digitally based music systems provide higher levels of storage capacity and the potential to deliver higher-quality sound.

Mintel defines audio equipment as a device designed principally to reproduce broadcast or recorded sounds. For the purposes of the market sizing, the definition will only encompass equipment where this is a primary function, including:

hi-fi systems (all-in-one) and separates

MP3 players (like iPod)

personal CD players

personal radios (digital and analogue)

personal minidisc players.