Gadget-hungry UK consumers

Gadget-hungry UK consumers are storing an average of £600 worth of photos, films, music and games, new research estimates.

The YouGov survey of more than 2,000 adults found that the average tally of digital content per head on audio players, PCs and cameraphones includes 502 songs, 466 photos, 14 films and eight games.

The survey suggests that users of digital devices place a high monetary value on digital storage.

But over two fifths have more of an emotional connection, saying that their collections are 'valuable' or even 'priceless'.

This is not surprising, according to the report, when almost one in 10 have over 2,000 photos and more than one in 10 have over 2,000 songs.

The poll found that one in five consumers are 'high capacity' users requiring more than 200GB of storage.

Gadget-hungry UK consumers are storing an average of £600 worth of photos, films, music and games, new research estimates.

The YouGov survey of more than 2,000 adults found that the average tally of digital content per head on audio players, PCs and cameraphones includes 502 songs, 466 photos, 14 films and eight games.

The survey suggests that users of digital devices place a high monetary value on digital storage.

But over two fifths have more of an emotional connection, saying that their collections are 'valuable' or even 'priceless'.

This is not surprising, according to the report, when almost one in 10 have over 2,000 photos and more than one in 10 have over 2,000 songs.

The poll found that one in five consumers are 'high capacity' users requiring more than 200GB of storage.

A third of the respondents feel that they need devices with storage capacities that provide at least twice as much space to keep everything that they would like, while one in five reckon they need an 'infinite' amount.

Brits aged 18-34 with an electronic device are not dissimilar to their American and Asian contemporaries when it comes to possessing a voracious appetite for digital media, particularly music.

UK adults in this age group store 1,056 songs, or about three times more than the average UK consumer, but are outpaced by their peers in America who store 2,065 songs.

But those young Americans are in turn eclipsed by young Asians who keep a whopping 3,195 songs.

"Storage needs keep going up and up," said Nick Kyriacou, director for EMEA at Hitachi GST, which commissioned the research.

"Just over 20 years ago people thought that five megabytes was more than enough, but that is enough space for only one or two songs today."

As consumers have demanded more, the technology has enabled terabyte hard drives that allow consumers to store and carry large amounts of data, including high-definition video.

"There is an insatiable appetite for storage capacity and we would estimate that the average value of stored content has gone up almost 50 per cent over the past three years and is continually increasing," added Kyriacou.