The explosion of MP3 players, driven by Apple’s iPod,¬†is raising¬†awareness and usage of digital music in the U.S., according to a new study by JupiterResearch.

“Use of playlists has steadily increased, and ripping music has reached a penetration rate of 25 percent,” said David Card, Vice President and Senior Analyst. “Over 60 percent of portable music device users regularly rip music, while 58 percent of iPod users and 44 percent of users of other portable music devices use playlists.”

While interest in digital music is growing, most users prefer downloading singles to monthly music service options.

Highlights of the report include…..

• Prior JupiterResearch surveys showed that digital music behavior had largely stabilized, but in 2006 MP3 player usage is up, galvanizing other activities. Among online adults, 25 percent rip, 25 percent burn, and 21 percent maintain a digital music collection. For young adults, these figures are all doubled.
• More online adults are interested in downloading digital singles (17 percent) than in subscription services for $10 per month (six percent), and interest in ‚Äî or awareness of ‚Äî over-the-air services is nascent at best.
• Previous surveys have shown a steady increase in the size of consumers’ digital music collections over the past three years. Even so, only 18 percent of online adults with music collections have more than 1,000 songs on their computers.
• A core segment of super fans (18 percent of online adults) ‚Äî who are heavy music listeners and spenders ‚Äî are very open to digital and online music activities and for-pay services. Heavy spenders’ (20 percent of online adults) activities largely mimic those of heavy listeners (14 percent of online adults), who comprise a group of at-work radio listeners as well as young file sharers.

“Traditional methods of music promotion, such as radio and music videos, remain the leading influences over consumer‚Äôs music purchases,” said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. “Music companies should market online broadly to heavy music listeners and spenders.”