Car listening trends

BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR: When Americans are in their cars, they still listen to music primarily on their radios, but that may change in the not-too-distant future. “Smart devices streaming music could end up being the largest threat to CDs and broadcast radio since the dawn of digital music,” wrote the NPD Group’s Russ Crupnick, putting his spin on the newly issued NPD report Entertainment Trends in America. Nearly two out of three of those polled said that the majority of their music listening took place in the car during the prior three months, a decline of two points since last year, and 80% did their car listening via the radio at least some of the time, while 53% listened to CDs, down four percentage points from a year ago. More than making up the difference were devices like the iPhone, Android and iPod, up nine percentage points to a 29% and accounting for 3.5 hours per week per person. The next big thing? Car audio systems with integrated digital music players. “A tipping point is approaching when vehicles and portable devices move from a tethered connection to a more integrated one,” Crupnick asserted. (11/11a)