This year began with good news for the beleaguered record industry. In the crucial sales week between Christmas and new year, 3m songs were legally downloaded in Britain, twice as many as in the same last gasp of 2006. But among the figures released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) was one the digital lobby would probably prefer to have buried. Of all albums sold in 2007, less than 5% were downloads. In the albums market, digital has made barely any inroads. The media may herald the death of CDs, but consumers seem wedded to the shiny silver discs.

“The media’s obsession with downloads creates the impression that there is only a digital market for music,” says Matt Philips, the BPI’s director of communications. “That is not the case. Singles, certainly, have been revolutionised by legal digital services, but with albums, most people still prefer a physical product. As broadband speeds increase and digital stores become slightly more geared towards selling albums, that 5% figure should increase this year, but I don’t expect to see a significant leap.”

One disadvantage with digital albums is how little you get for your money. At iTunes, an album will set you back £7.99. On the high street, you pay £2 more for the CD – and, at online stores such as CD Wow or Play.com, there may be no extra cost – but the package is considerably more attractive. For all the grumbles about shrunken sleeve shots that accompanied the arrival of CDs, compared to the thumbnail-sized photo that comes with a digital album, CD artwork looks positively lavish.

“There is a lot of talk of this being the year record companies persuade people to download their albums,” says Paul Scaife, managing director of the music-industry website Record of the Day. “Most are planning enhanced digital packages, with artwork, photos and lyrics as free extras, but I’ve not seen much of that yet, and even when it arrives, the CD will still be a nicer, neater package.” Scaife believes that the nature of downloading will never lend itself well to albums. “The single is a cheap, spur-of-the-moment purchase, an album a much more considered buy,” he says. “You can have a song in your head, and want to hear it right now, for which downloading is ideal. But how often do you desire a whole album straightaway? And a CD is a great backup to have. You can play it or copy it onto MP3 to play on your computer or phone.”

Quality is another concern – the download’s tinny sound fares badly compared to the CD. And while that might not matter much for a single heard on head-phones, for albums CDs win hands down.

One recent development in the digital album’s favour is that most can now be played on different devices. In recent weeks, SonyBMG and Warners have decided to follow Universal in ditching Digital Rights Management (DRM), the in-built technology that meant songs bought from, say, iTunes could be played only on a compatible Apple product. “Removing DRM is the biggest boost for the digital-music market since downloading went legal,” claims Ben Drury, owner of the online store 7Digital. “Now consumers won’t be confused about what will play on which device. We have seen a growth in album sales since the shift away from DRM began, but the main problem is cultural rather than technical.”

Yet 7Digital has been selling download albums, notably through bands’ websites. Working closely with acts such as Oasis and Coldplay, and their respective labels, it has increased sound quality and bundled in free artwork and behind-the-scenes footage. It also employs variable pricing. “Through Queen’s website, we sell official concert bootlegs for a fiver,” says Drury, who suspects that most album downloaders are men aged 24 to 35, also the early adopters for download singles. “You have to buy the whole album, but it’s great value – as little as 19p a track. It’s a good way to get people used to downloading albums.”

Another success story comes from PIAS, Europe’s biggest independent music distributor. Adrian Pope, director of digital and business development, claims half its digital revenue already comes from albums. “How to sell more digital albums is now the golden question,” he says. “The answer is obvious – make better albums. Pop and hip-hop have taken a hammering since downloading took off. Why? Because there are two or three decent singles and the rest is rubbish. Hence, fans pick off the hits. We work with the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Armand Van Helden, who are essentially album artists. Consumers only have to get used to the culture of downloading albums. Next to other formats, digital adoption has been fairly rapid. It’s still early days.”

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