According to an AppleInsider report, the market for iPods is so large that the company will eclipse the 350 million Walkmans that Sony sold in the 80’s and 90’s to sell half a billion iPods.

“During Sony‚Äôs 15-year reign with the Walkman, the company sold over 350 million units, and we believe that Apple‚Äôs addressable market over time will exceed this number given the upgrade and replaceable nature of iPods as well as the overriding trend of consumers‚Äô increasing use of digital media,” said Ingrid Ebeling, an analyst at JMP Securities. “The net takeaway is that this is a product category that is far from saturated, and we believe well over 500 million units will be sold before the product category hits maturation.”

For the three-month fiscal second quarter ended March, the analyst estimates Apple to have sold 10.8 million iPods. Those sales should generate about $1.76 billion in revenue, representing year-over-year growth in units of 33 percent and revenue growth of 18.2 percent.

“First calendar quarter sales in consumer electronics are always the weakest of the year, and we wouldn‚Äôt view any perceived weakness as concern for the category and iPods,” she explained.

Ebeling was similarly optimistic on EMI’s recent decision to make its digital music catalog available to iTunes shoppers without copy protection measures, explaining that the move could act as a buy-in catalyst for consumers who may have previous been deterred by the iPod’s closed ecosystem.

JMP’s prediction suggests that the audience for podcasts could easily grow 500% in the next few years.