KIM WILSON BLOG

According to the Nielsen Co.'s year-end figures, music purchases — from all mediums — of entire albums including digital single track downloads and music videos totaled 1.5 billion, up 10.5% over 2007. However, more than 70% of that figure was attributed to digital downloads. Moreover, total album sales were down, as people tend to buy just the tracks they like.

Next week, the industry descends on Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). I'll be there and blogging for Ultimate AV. My beat, as we call it, will focus on digital media, convergence products, and the trends associated with this transition to a totally digital world.

With news like this about the music industry, it's clear the transition from hard media to digital media is moving forward, rather quickly. Last year during CES, one of the trends that struck me was how many more exhibitors were using computers and external storage devices for delivering their presentations, leaving the CDs and DVDs gathering dust in a box somewhere. I expect I will see even more of this practice during the coming show.

Stay tuned to our daily blog updates directly from CES from January 7-11.