Music players No. 1

Even as The Who guitarist Pete Townshend's warning about earphones echoes around the world, the organizers of the giant Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas release figures showing that MP3 players will be huge in 2006. The BBC cites Consumer Electronics Show figures showing that sales of music players "soared by 200% in 2005 to $3bn (£1.73bn)," with the projection for 2006 being $4.5 billion. Keep an eye on the volume level of those earbuds, people! BTW, the Beeb adds that Nos. 2 and 3 at CES are game consoles and flat screens, respectively.