To MP3 or not to MP3? That is the question, but what is the answer? For all those with their heads in the sand, 1999 saw the meteoric rise of one digital audio format over all others: MP3 had arrived with more hype than hypertext.

Compressing sound files to manageable sizes by cutting out sounds inaudible to the human ear, it turned downloading into something that took a fag break not a fortnight. Now your best single was a click away and you could hear the follow up before you bought it. Embraced by techies and musicians alike, it turned geeks into rock stars, surfers into A&R men and websites into record companies.

Despite the acceleration of new technologies, the barriers that came between MP3 and global domination in '99 remain. The problems facing MP3 range from global battles to public misconceptions.

Hand held devices, like those made by Diamond, have yet to come down sufficiently in price to convince the market. But giants like Sony seem ready to enter the digital audio market, after years of disapproval. After a recent public endorsement of a rival to MP3, Microsoft's MSAudio format, Sony seems keen to expand in both the digital distribution (its Bitmusic site) and portable player sectors.

"We have to start selling music online, considering the prospects for an explosion of internet usage and a proliferation of distribution technologies," a Sony music spokesman said. "But we still face the challenge of protecting our copyrights and intellectual property."

Copyright is why many multinationals have been reluctant to adopt the technology The other problem is that the public is loathe to pay for something that is apparently free.

Overcoming that last problem is something only the public can do .