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CD music sales decreased 7% in the US during the first half of the year, a trade group says.

The Recording Industry Association of America says the decline cost the industry $284 million in lost sales.

It says the figures are a further indication that online music sharing sites are hurting the recording industry.

The decline, measured by PricewaterhouseCoopers, compares with a 5.3% drop in CD shipments in the first half of 2001.

The RIAA says the industry uses just-in-time delivery, so CD shipments are reliably indicative of actual sales.

The RIAA also released a separate survey of internet users' music habits, which found that most consumers between the ages of 12 and 54 bought fewer CDs as they downloaded more tracks.

Previous studies independent of the music industry have suggested that access to free music on the Web actually encourages consumers to experiment with new acts and buy more CDs.

"We find a striking connection between people who say they are downloading more and buying less," said Geoff Garin, the pollster for Peter Hart Research Associates, who conducted the telephone survey of 860 consumers for the RIAA.

Of consumers polled whose downloading increased during the last six months, 41% reported buying less music, compared with 19% who said they were purchasing more, he says.

Among those polled who said they were downloading the same amount as six months earlier, 25% said they purchased less music, compared with 13% who bought more, Garin says.

Story filed: 00:22 Tuesday 27th August 2002 at ANANOVA