According to research from nScreenMedia, 96 per cent of US broadband users have one of the four main types of digital media: photos, music, movies and home videos. 52 per cent have at least some of all four types in digital media.
“Digital cameras have now been in market for 20 years, so it is to be expected that the transition to digital photography is almost complete,” said Colin Dixon, Founder and Chief Analyst of nScreenMedia. “What is really surprising, however, is how fast consumers are moving to adopt a totally digital media lifestyle.”
According to nScreenMedia , 93 per cent of US broadband users have some digital photos stored. Downloading songs is also very popular, with 76 per cent of consumers storing at least some of their music in digital form. Though digital ownership of movies is still relatively new, 56 per cent of consumers have already begun to adopt the approach.
The research finds that the PC is used by consumers most frequently to store their media. However, newer storage types are being adopted fast. “The cloud has emerged as a very important storage medium,” noted Colin Dixon. “90 per cent of broadband users have heard of cloud storage, and nearly a third of them currently use it. A remarkable performance for such a young industry.”
Plex sponsored the research, and the company’s CEO Keith Valory remarked, “We are in the midst of a massive continuing expansion in the storage of digital media. The research shows that this year consumers with downloaded music expect to expand their libraries by nearly 30 per cent, and consumers with digital videos expect to expand their libraries by nearly 17 per cent.”
Despite the number of options available to store media today, consumers still remain vulnerable to the failure of a hard drive or theft of a device. Movies and home videos are frequently only stored in a single place.
