The Nielsen SoundScan numbers for Jan. 1 to July 1 are outunsurprisingly, album sales are down 15 percent from the same period last year (229.8 million sold) while digital tracks are up 49 percent (417.3 million sold). Despite the digital uptick, however, overall music sales keep falling.

Even with digital single sales rolled into albums, there's a 9.2 percent dropwhich might be the most important number of the batch, since it means people aren't just switching from albums to tracks, but are buying (though not necessarily consuming) less music.

So let's hear it: Have you bought fewer albums or songs this year than before? If so, why? Do you still bother with CDs or are you an all-digital headbanger?

Digital Purchases Rise as Album Sales Fall [AP/NYT]
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