It may seem like a ridiculous claim, but MP3 players could soon become a thing of the past. Impressive advancements in mobile phones and a new-found ability to manage and playback digital music mean they're just as effective in this area as a standalone player.

The theory is backed up by recent figures produced by Report Buyer, a research-based company specialising in business intelligence and major industry sectors. The report shows that worldwide shipments of music phones exceeded one billion in 2007, outnumbering traditional players, like the iPod, by a whopping 300 million units.

Factors such as audio quality, the presence of a conventional 3.5mm jack so you can use your own headphones, and expandable memory, mean that there's almost no disadvantage to buying a phone to play music back on, and a number of advantages for the consumer, such as less expense and fewer gadgets to carry around in your pocket.

Forecasts predict that by 2011, over half of all mobile phone handsets shipped will be music phones, which paints a rather bleak picture for the future of the dedicated digital audio/MP3 player.