SURVEY FINDS CDS WILL STAY FORMAT OF CHOICE FOR YEARS.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

Digital music may be popular, but CDs are still the format of choice, and will be for at least another five years, according to a survey released Wednesday by JupiterResearch.

Digital music sales are poised to represent 12 percent of consumer music spending in 2009, with only 4 percent of listeners 25 and over partaking in file sharing these days, the survey found.

``The CD is not quite replaceable. It represents an $11 billion market, and many people still prefer the quality of the sound,'' said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch in New Jersey.

Among the advances likely to curb CD sales: automobiles that come equipped with digital music players. ``But who knows how long it will take for cars to have some kind of audio device other than a CD player - maybe 10 years?'' said Ali Partovi, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based GarageBand.com, a place where artists can post their music online. ``Until an alternate route becomes mainstream, people will still prefer physical music.''

Despite the longevity of CDs, digital music subscription services are likely to outpace a la carte downloads in the next several years. Gartenberg said music listeners are more interested in gaining access to an entire library, as opposed to purchasing a track per download.

According to the survey, 16 percent of adults 25 and over are interested in downloading a 99-cent single, while 17 percent are tempted by subscription services. At the same time, approximately 30 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are in favor of subscription services.

Partovi said subscription services would garner more popularity if certain downloading restrictions were eliminated. That means allowing people to keep their digital music, even if they are no longer subscribers. ``But that would be hard for record labels to stomach. Hopefully, over time they will have more flexibility,'' he said.

Evan Pondel, [phone]

evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com