If you aren’t a fan of music downloads yet, it looks like you’re going to have to be soon — or in the next four years at least. A study by Forrester Research Inc. has shown that by 2011, half of all music bought in the US will be music downloads; by 2012, music downloads will surpass CD sales.

Legal MP3 downloads are expected to grow at a rate of about 23% a year over the next five years. With the popularity of filesharing through programs like Limewire continuing to soar and legal music downloads becoming such a hot commodity, CDs sales are going to continue to suffer.

According to the report, this is the “end of the music industry as we know it. This study of music downloads is based on a survey of 5,000 people. It’s certainly not all doom and gloom though, it’s just evidence that the world is changing — and we’re all for change.

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