From the obsessive indie record collector flicking through the 12-inch racks, to the much-derided figure of '50-quid man' (the middle-of-the-road fiftysomething bloke with plenty to spend in HMV), music fans have always been addicted to 'product', from vinyl to CDs.
It's all very well the likes of Radiohead releasing their latest misery-fest online, but music lovers want shiny discs to clutch, artwork to admire and lyric sheets to pore over. Or do they?
After more than two decades, I kicked my weekly CD-buying habit three months ago and haven't been in a record shop since. I subscribe to Napster To Go (£14.95 per month), which allows me to download as much music as I want onto my computer and transfer those files onto my MP3 player. Before, in an average month, I used to spend £50 on music. Now I save myself £35.05 (and can listen to much more stuff).
But far from being a '50-quid man', Eamonn Forde, editor of the music business title Five Eight, thinks people like me are 'opinion formers', which is reassuring. 'We reckon 15 per cent of music sales are digital at the moment,' he says. 'The singles market has yet to impact upon the album market and that's where most of the margin is for the industry.'
The omnipresent iTunes has triumphed over its digital-market competition, providing three-quarters of online sales. But it isn't the only show in town: there is a huge amount of competition, not just on price but on service.
iTunes is an a la carte model: you see the track you like and pay your 79p. A big drawback with iTunes is that it has inbuilt digital rights management (DRM), which prevents you playing 'your' music on anything other than an iPod, although iTunes has begun to introduce some DRM-free tracks. On Napster, you can listen to your chosen music for as long as your subscription is valid, including music stored on your MP3, but it too is not 'your' music (you can't burn it off your computer onto CDs).
By contrast, with the website eMusic you can download 30 tunes a month for £8.99 or 75 for £14.99 (that's 20p a track). Not only is that a lot cheaper than many of its bigger rivals, but eMusic is DRM-free. Everything is sold in MP3 format, so your music is compatible with any device, not just an iPod. The service has more than 300,000 subscribers and its business in the EU has increased 110 per cent since 2006.
'As more labels choose to sell their tracks in the open MP3 format, enabling compatibility between devices, and more retailers can offer those tracks, we believe the market will expand,' says eMusic chief executive David Pakman.
UK-based website Wippit once claimed to be the world's first legal peer-to-peer file-sharing service, but has since moved to a less controversial download model. It says it has 184,000 users, three-quarters of whom are in the UK. The subscription is £4.99 a month, or £50 for a whole year and, unlike Napster, you get to keep the tracks you download. 'If you download an album every two months, then you have already broken even,' says chief executive Paul Myers. 'If you buy more, then it's a real bargain.'
Yet, according to research by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and analyst Jupiter Research, only one in 20 downloads is actually paid for. 'The under-24s wouldn't dream of paying until they start "hitting the barrier" - which is when they begin to have children, responsibility and less time,' Myers says.
The UK music industry has taken a 'gently, gently' approach to policing a generation of illegal file-sharers since 2004 when the BPI, Britain's phonographic industry body, launched 150 cases, most of which settled for around £2,000. Certainly it's been quiet compared to the more gung-ho approach in the US, where more than 20,000 lawsuits have been brought in the past four years, including one last month against 30-year-old Jammie Thomas, who allegedly held a Kazaa account on which 24 songs were available for download. The jury found she should pay $9,250 per song.
So the generation driving the legitimate online music revolution is 'a lot older than you would think,' says Ben Drury, managing director of 7digital.com. Most users fall into the 25-to-34 age bracket, then 35-to-44, with the under-24s in third place, he says. 'Younger people are much more likely to download illegally - they're cash-sensitive, price-sensitive, more technically able and maybe have more time to search the peer-to-peer services.'
Myers is more precise: 'Our average customer is a 34-year-old male. It's not the kids, as everyone thinks.'
It sounds suspiciously like '50-quid man' has been more willing to move with the times than his image suggests.