Portable music player sales will reach 124 million units by the year 2009, or roughly five times the 26.4 million sold in 2004 according to research firm IDC. The company predicts the increases will be the result of falling flash memory prices, wide availability of legal content downloads, and increased consumer awareness. It went on to add that the only limiting factor on the market"s growth may be the emergence of media-enabled cell phones.
Larger capacity flash memory at cheaper costs will make higher quality content more practical. The introduction of a video enabled iPod by Apple this past week is a good indication of where the market is turning, with support for both audio and video content becoming mainstream.