BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A survey carried out by Music Ally Speakerbox has revealed most music fans prefer purchasing compact discs (CD) to buying music online.

    Of some 1,000 people it polled, the annual survey published this week found, that overall, 73 percent of music buyers prefer CDs. Even among younger consumers, that many presumed were hooked to digital downloading, the numbers were still in favor of physical formats. A total of 66 percent of 14 to 18 year-olds said they still prefer CDs over downloading.

    However the survey still showed that piracy still remained high with around 17 percent saying they share files and 23 percent saying they burned CD-Rs. According to the British Phonographic Industry’s (BPI) most recent data, CD sales accounted for approximately 86 percent of total revenue, compared to 14 percent produced by digital downloads, for the 12 months up to March 2009.

    "The continued popularity of the CD should be looked upon as an opportunity. We believe that labels and online stores could and should be doing more to build on music fans’ familiarity with CDs to provide them with additional digital content and to use the CD as a bridge into the digital world," CEO of Leading Question, Tim Walker said in response to the poll. Leading Question, the research division of music consultancy Music Ally responsible for carrying out the survey, say that digital is still the future but rumors of the death of the CD are premature. "Music fans have spoken and digital is evidently not the clear cut replacement to the physical CD," said Tim Walker

    The survey seems to show that even those who listen to streaming music on line with services like Spotify and LastFM were effectively encouraged to buy more music. "It’s particularly encouraging that those who are listening to streamed music on their computers are actually buying more music on both CDs and downloads than the average music fan," said Music Ally chief executive Paul Brindley, "This suggests that digital can and is being used as a way of sampling new music which users may then go on to purchase."

    The research also supports recent statistics which indicate that piracy levels were dropping among teenagers with many turning to streaming services or purchasing music legally. In December 2007 about 42 percent of 14 to18 year-olds were shown to illegally share music. However, this fell to just 26 percent in January 2009, with 65 percent of teenagers now preferring to stream music more than once a month.

    (Agencies)