Digital Music Sales Will Soon Overtake CDs

The dominance of CDs over digital music is expected to last only another year or two.

So far this year, paid music downloads have accounted for 35 percent of all music sales, AFP reports. It is expected that next year the numbers for CD and digital music sales will be about equal, and by 2011, CD sales will fall behind.

The NPD vice president of entertainment industry analysis has said, "Many people are surprised that the CD is still the dominant music delivery format, given the attention to digital music and the shrinking retail footprint for physical products."

At the top of the digital music industry is Apple. According to CNNMoney.com, Apple accounts for 69 percent of all paid music downloads, and 25 percent of all music unit sales. Amazon is a distant second for digital music sales, with a measly eight percent.

However, San Jose Mercury News writes that 10 times more music is downloaded illegally than is currently obtained through paid downloads. This and the fact that many people download individual songs rather than buying a whole CD online has caused a significant drop in the music industry's overall sales.