NEWS: Britain sitting on a £74bn gadget mountain

British homes contain a gadget mountain worth around £74 billion, according to a survey conducted by online bank First Direct. And the pile is growing - the continuous development of consumer electronics means that while every home contains an average of 16 pieces of equipment, we're spending £29bn a year upgrading our TVs, and a further £10bn buying better computers.

The average price of the TV in UK homes is £500, and there are almost 60m of them in use in the country, with 39.4m DVD players, with an average value of £100, and 29.5m satellite/Freview boxes, each worth £30.

But things go a bit odd when it comes to audio equipment. The survey says there are 25.2m iPods and MP3 players in use, with an average value of £80 a pop, but while 'stereos with CD player' rack up a total of 28.5m units, the average value is £20. Hmm...

Andrew has written about audio and video products for the past 20+ years, and been a consumer journalist for more than 30 years, starting his career on camera magazines. Andrew has contributed to titles including What Hi-Fi?, GramophoneJazzwise and Hi-Fi CriticHi-Fi News & Record Review and Hi-Fi Choice. I’ve also written for a number of non-specialist and overseas magazines.