Headphone world domination continues....

This is a historic time for portable stereo, and portable computing in general. I hope we can all get maximum benefit from it.

I don't wish to appear pedantic, but are in-ear phones actually headphones?

Probably 99.9% of these sales are things you stuff in your ear, not something you attach over your head!

That's a great question. I think it would be very helpful for people to distinguish between earbuds, in-ear earphones, and headphones. Very confusing.

Edit: Probably 50 percent, not 99 percent certainly.

I rarely listen to music on the move as I like to be aware of what's going on around me, but I did buy a pair of Sennheiser CX300 II's a year or two back.

I hated the sound, but worse, I hated the invasion of my bodily privacy - nasty things stuffed in your ear! So I bought a pair of Sony whatever in-ears for £9-99 from HMV and absolutely bril!

Hey Clare, How are the sales for WHF magazine (and digital download version) doing in 2011 compared to 2010? Well I hope, if so perhaps more people are thinking about hi-fi than buying right now.

Increasing headphone sales makes perfect sense to me. You can achieve a higher quality audio for less money (compared to separates). You can listen without annoying your neighbours (or conveniently ignore your loved ones ). Also getting high quality audio from computers and even portables gets easier all the time and headphones are the easiest way to appreciate that convenience.