I had heard at some point in the spring that 10 percent of the American public owned an iPod. Today Constantine von Hoffman, editor at CMO Magazine, forwarded this research note to me from The Center for Media Research:
"Upscale Men Dominate Adult iPod Ownership
A national phone survey of adults over the age of 18 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found that more than 22 million American adults own iPods or MP3 players. 29% of them have downloaded podcasts from the Web so that they could listen to audio files at a time of their choosing.
"Podcasting" emerged in 2004, as people combined the words "iPod" and "broadcasting." Podcast listeners typically download audio files from the Web onto a computer, transfer the files to an iPod, and listen at their leisure.
Of the 22 million adults who own iPods:
- 13% of men have the players, compared to 9% of women.
- 16% of African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos own iPods/MP3 players, compared to 9% of non-Latino whites.
- 19% of those ages 18-28 have iPods/MP3 players.
- 14% of those ages 29-40 have them
- 11% of younger Baby Boomers (ages 41-50) have them
- 6% of older Baby Boomers (ages 51-59) have them
- 6% of those 60-69 have them
- 1% of those 70 and older have them
iPods/MP3 players are for the upscale. Owners include:
- 18% of those who live in households earning more than $75,000
- 13% of those living in households earning $50,000 to $75,000
- 9% of those living in households earning $30,000-$50,000
- 7% of those living in households earning less than $30,000
- Those who use the internet are four times as likely as non-internet users to have iPods/MP3 players
- 14% of internet users have iPods/MP3 players, compared to 3% of non-internet users.
There is no notable gap between those who have broadband access and dial-up users when it comes to podcasting. "
Given that this study lists adults, I can assume if you add in the youth market, the penetration is indeed around 10 percent.
