How many unique iPod users are there?  This is different from the
number of iPods sold since many people have purchased more than one
iPod.

I know that:
-  At MacWorld 06 Steve Jobs announced 14M iPods were sold in Q4 05.
-  Cumulative to date iPod sales are estimated 35M-40M (various analysts)
-  There were 10 million iTunes Music Store accounts in Sept 05 (per Apple)
-  Other estimates of iTunes MS users range from 100M-200M (various analysts)

Please list source data or method of estimating.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 12 Jan 2006 10:24 PST

Glenth,

I located an article that states that there are 25 million ipod users worldwide.

Excerpt:

"By most accounts, there are about 25-million iPod users in the world
and they?re growing at the rate of nearly two-million users per
month."

MAC 360: September 26, 2005
http://www.mac360.com/index.php/mac360/more/motorola_chief_slams_ipod_users_not_savvy/

Would this be a satisfactory answer to your question?

Thanks, 
Bobbie7

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Clarification of Question by glenth-ga on 20 Jan 2006 17:05 PST

Your answer is about as close as I'll get.  If doesn't answer my
question but it highlights the reason for my question.

From the way the original question:
-  Apple sold 14 million iPods in Q4 05
-  Estimates of total iPod sales to date in Jan 06 of 35-40 million.
This implies iPod sales on 9/30 of 21-26 million vs. the 25 million
unique users in the answer.  This could only be true if every iPod
ever sold was sold to a unique user which can't be the case.


Your article also points out the lack of credible criticism of Apple. 
Many people criticize Apple for sabotaging the ROKR by limiting the #
of songs that it can hold.  Ed Zander criticizes Apple because the
Nano holds too many songs.  The music labels criticize iTunes for
keeping per-song prices too low, while subscriptions services
criticize iTunes for charging too much per song.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 20 Jan 2006 17:12 PST

Dear Glenth,

I'm sorry I wasn't able to find more credible sources for you. This
question is still open; perhaps another researcher will locate more
precise figures.


Sincerely, 
Bobbie7

This isn't an answer to your question, but it's sure a fun statistic
to toss around at small dinner parties.  The Wall St. Journal today
mentioned the figure you have at the top:  Apple Compuer sold 14
million iPod music players over the recently ended holiday quarter. .
."MORE THAN 100 EVERY MINUTE!"