The portable media player market that has seen new iPods from Apple and several new competitors from Sony, Samsung and Toshiba, is forecasting to be a big revenue earner this Xmas with flash based players set to drive sales.

Worldwide shipments of portable media players (PMPs) will grow at a 30 percent annualised rate over the next five years, predicts Parks Associates.

PMPs, which play back video as well as audio, will reach shipments of 132 million units in 2011, driven by consumers upgrading from MP3 players and the popularity of new Web sites that offer downloading of free short video clips, said senior analyst Harry Wang.

In addition, prices are falling on the players and the devices offer increasingly greater storage and better ease of use.

In Australia the percentage of flash-based video PMPs will rise from 15 percent in 2006 to 77 percent in 2011, said GfK.

“Flash memory’s merits, such as durability, small form factor and low power consumption, make it the preferred storage medium for video PMP manufacturers,” Wang said, adding, “Barring any significant developments in the online video market, the use of hard disk drives on the PMP platform will trail substantially.”