iLounge

Apple once again dominated holiday sales of digital audio players, increasing its market share from last year, according to data from the NPD Group. “In the five-week period from Nov. 19 to Dec. 23, iPods accounted for 57.3 percent of all players sold at a panel of electronics stores that notably didn’t include the Cupertino company’s own retail outlets,” reports the Mercury News. “Apple’s share was up from 42 percent for a similar period last year. SanDisk was No. 2 with 19.2 percent of units sold, down from 22.1 percent last year. Microsoft, which debuted its Zune player in November, came in fourth behind Creative Technology with 2.8 percent of the market. Creative had 3.4 percent.”