Some music companies have thrown support behind Amazon's MP3 store, which competes with iTunes. The music industry has also sued fans to stop them from downloading and sharing music without paying for it.
The legal efforts may have had an effect. The report said that the portion of survey respondents who shared music on sites that facilitate illegal downloads was 19% in 2007, the same as 2006. But those who do it are doing it more. Some said they got more than 3,000 songs a year this way.
Two years ago, teenagers accounted for 15% of CD sales. In 2007, the figure was 10%. The digital music world has yet to completely capture the attentions of Isaac Kahn and his friend Charlie Williams, both 14. They buy music online but prefer to go to the Amoeba store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and thumb through the CDs. "I like to look at CDs and see if there's anything else I might want to buy," Isaac said.
Charlie, who recently bought a device to transform his father's 300 records into digital files, said many teens download music illegally because they are on computers. But he doesn't have a computer. And besides, he said, "I'm a musician myself; I prefer to just buy it."
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michelle.quinn@latimes.com
andrea.chang@latimes.com
Quinn reported from San Francisco, Chang from Los Angeles.
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Begin text of infobox
Leading U.S. music sellers
End of 2007
1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
2. Apple Inc.'s iTunes
3. Best Buy Co.
4. Target Corp.
5. Amazon.com Inc.
End of 2006
1. Wal-Mart
2. Best Buy
3. Target
4. iTunes
5. Amazon
Source: NPD Group
