You’re thinking of iTunes or a similar online music store, aren’t you? Well, I have something else on my mind. It’s true that online digital music sales worldwide account for around 10% of the entire music market, which in value is around US$2 billion. The growth of online digital music sales has been impressive from the start and the 2007 IFPI report shows that from 2005 to 2006 the sales have doubled. People are adapting to downloading digital music, but still the majority prefers CDs. The main reason for this is probably that for most people it is still more convenient to go and buy CDs from brick and mortar stores. Many older people especially are not yet so familiar with computers and Internet, so they try to avoid online music stores. Also paying with your credit card via Internet still arouses doubts and people feel usually safer paying with cash.

When I was visiting Amsterdam during last summer I saw there in the airport this machine that allowed you to buy digital music from it. All you needed was a USB stick/portable mp3-player and money. I found the idea just brilliant. With the help of this kind of digital music sales machine it is much easier for technologically handicapped people to adapt to the new technology.

However, I have not seen these digital music sales machines anywhere else and to be honest I don’t know why. It might be that people are not yet ready for it, but as brick and mortar record stores become more and more unprofitable there will be a lot of people, who want to buy music, but not from the Internet.