Business Services Industry

Diving Into the Digital Music Revolution; With More People Using Legal Digital Music Sites, Best Buy Survey Shows Many Are Looking for the Right Service and Player for Their Lifestyle

Business Wire, March 2, 2004

"When it comes to digital music services and players, it's not a one-size-fits-all world," said Scott Young, vice president of digital entertainment for Best Buy. "We make it easy for people to get the most out of what digital music has to offer by letting them learn about a variety of services on our in-store kiosks and on our Web site, www.BestBuy.com. We also are training our sales associates to match the correct service and player with a customer's needs."

"Digital Music is on the rise," said Jim Barry, national media spokesperson for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). "There are scores of portable players to choose from, along with a growing roster of legal music services. It's getting easier for consumers to enjoy digital music every day - anywhere and any way they choose."

About Best Buy Stores

Best Buy Stores, owned and operated by Minneapolis-based Best Buy Co., Inc., is the nation's leading specialty retailer of technology and entertainment products and services. Best Buy was founded in St. Paul, Minn. in 1966. Best Buy Stores reach an estimated 300 million consumers per year through more than 600 retail stores in 48 states and online at BestBuy.com. For more information about Best Buy, visit the virtual pressroom at http://communications.bestbuy.com/pressroom/.> About the Survey

Best Buy commissioned the study to determine what consumers look for in digital music services and players. The results are based on an internet survey of a randomly selected national sample of 1000 people ages 18 to 64, conducted February 2004 by Click IQ on behalf of Best Buy. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3.0 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Editor's note: The amount of music held per player depends on compression rate; figures based on a 128kps WMA compression, or approximately one minute per megabyte.