Ipods, music pirates or victims of industry

Can disks overtake discs in Japan's portable audio player market? Apple Computer Inc.'s immensely popular iPod mini music player will finally hit local store shelves today. Not to be outdone, Japanese electronics manufacturers are rolling out their own products equipped with large-capacity hard disk drives. Together, the companies are determined to crack the market dominated by Mini Disc (MD) and compact disc (CD) players. MD players accounted for an overwhelming 59 percent of Japan's portable …

…a single battery charge. Toshiba introduced a compact version of its Gigabeat music players the previous day. The new offerings are apparently whipping up consumer interest. At major electronics retailer Bic Camera, overall sales in July of digital music players shot up 3.5 times over the previous year. Sony estimates that digital products will claim about 10 percent of the portable audio player market this year, with unit sales surging more than 60 percent from the previous year