A Real Rival for Apples iPod?
), and with Pandora Media, operators of the Pandora.com streaming music service. With the explosive popularity of digital music products like Apple’s (AAPL) iPod, the sale of traditional stereo systems has been on the decline. Of nearly $10.8 billion spent in the U.S. on home audio products in 2006, $5.6 billion, or nearly 52%, was spent on portable MP3 players such as the iPod and SanDisk’s (SNDK) Sansa, according to the Consumer Electronics Assn. That percentage will grow to 60% this year, the CEA reckons. Meanwhile, sales of compact stereo systems, stereo components, and home theater systems amounted to about $2.4 billion and are expected to decline to less than $2.2 billion this year.
