Port Washington, N.Y. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) Mac owners are much more likely than PC owners to pay to download music, with 50% of Mac owners reporting having paid to download songs from retailers like the iTunes Store in the third quarter of 2007, compared with 16% of PC owners, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. The report also found that Mac users were also more likely to purchase CDs than their PC-owning counterparts.

Overall, over 32% of Mac users reported purchasing CDs in the third quarter, compared with 28% of PC users.

"There's still a cultural divide between Apple consumers and the rest of the computing world, and that's especially apparent when it comes to the way they interact with music," said Russ Crupnick, vice president and entertainment industry analyst, NPD Group.

"Mac users are not only more active in digital music, they are also more likely to buy CDs, which helps debunk the myth that digital music consumers stop buying music in CD format."

Mac users were also more likely to have listened to music files on their computers than PC users (56% Mac vs. 31% PC), and to have uploaded music to their MP3 players (34% Mac vs. 16% PC).

"While the market for digital music is growing, it's growing slower than many would like it to -- CD sales are still declining and digital music has not replaced those lost sales," Crupnick added.

"At this point in the game, it's the growing base of Apple consumers that are the industry's low-hanging fruit when it comes to converting from physical to digital music."

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