Linn sounds death knell of CDs

However, album sales tell a different story.

In 2008, there were 137 million album sales, comprising of 123 million CDs, 10.3 million digital downloads, while vinyl records, cassettes and other formats accounted for around 300,000.

In 2007, out of 138 million sales, 131 million were CDs and 6.2 million were digital.

And, just two years ago, CD sales dominated album sales, accounting for 151 million sales out of 154 million while digital downloads accounted for 2.7 million sales.

In other words, though for albums, CD sales are still the preferred option, yet, their market share is clearly slumping.

Ironically, however, vinyl records, which were replaced by cassette tapes and ultimately by CDs, might actually outlive its upstart successors even in the era of digital downloads as many top DJs prefer records, because of the flexibility of the format for mixing, while audiophiles enjoy its 'warm' higher quality of sound compression.

No wonder, Linn Products, whose top systems cost more than £100,000, is continuing to make turntables.