Home

U.S. Adults

Study: 70% of U.S. Adults Own Portable Entertainment Devices

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 3, 2005 - 3:53am.
Arlington, Va. - More than 152 million Americans -- about 70% of the total U.S. adult population -- now own portable entertainment devices, according to a new report from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). "The increasing number of consumers who own portable entertainment devices is creating a huge market for handheld content," said Steve Koenig, the CEA's senior manager of industry analysis. "In fact, we estimate that consumers who own these devices will spend $8.3 billion on entertainment content for them in the next 12 months." Study results indicate that listening to music and communicating with others through e-mail are the most common activities for adults using the various devices. Sixty-eight percent of online adults said they used their portable devices to listen to music; the study found MP3 player household penetration has grown to 15%, up from 11% a year ago. The study also found that wireless phones and handheld PCs are the most common devices used to access handheld content, due in part to the wide variety of content available.
tags: Study | U.S. Adults | Portable Entertainment Devices |

Survey: 56% of U.S. Adults Say RIAA Shouldn't Sue File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 29, 2004 - 7:09am.
Eagan, Minn. -- A majority of Americans surveyed said the music industry should not sue individuals who illegally download music off the Internet, according to a poll conducted by legal website FindLaw. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has thus far filed suit against over 3,400 suspected file-swappers, with around 600 of these settling out of court for about $3,000 each. FindLaw's survey of 1,000 American adults found that 56% oppose the lawsuits, while 37% support the industry's legal actions. Opposition was more pronounced among 18 to 34-year-olds, nearly two-thirds of whom were against the lawsuits; also more opposed were people with lower incomes. "I suspect that many people, when educated about the purpose of copyright law, support the law," commented Prof. Sharon Sandeen, of the Hamline University School of Law. "Public opposition to the lawsuits may be due, in part, to what some people consider hard-handed tactics by the RIAA."
tags: RIAA | Survey | File-Swappers | U.S. Adults |