The 7% decrease is significant. Since CDs were first introduced in 1983, there hasn't been a decrease in sales, despite economic downturns, wars, other entertainment choices, etc. That is, until 2001, when sales were down 5%. Now, halfway through 2002, they're down 7%. Meanwhile, in 2001 Napster was huge and KaZaA was taking off. Every computer today is sold with a CD burner. Blank CD-Rs are way cheap.

It's hard to not attibute the decrease to P2P when even a quick glance at the posts in this forum say "Why would I buy a $20 CD when I can download it for free?"

There's more information on this at:
http://www.musicunited.org