Even in the recent past, the delivery format for consumer audio, the playback equipment and the use model were largely fixed; defined by physical formats such as CD and before it, vinyl. Progress appears to herald a more heterogeneous future. Computers, home entertainment servers, new disc formats as well as an array of portable digital devices offer access to files and streams of varying quality via outright purchase, rental or subscription. There is some evidence of convergence at some levels – say with regard to chipsets. But at the level that the consumer sees, or rather listens, technology is enabling divergence. The challenge for industry is to deliver commercially viable services to niches large and small in this fragmenting marketplace.
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