CRI听力:Yearender 2011: Imaginative Consumer Electronics

With digital music sales now overtaking CD album sales, the new generation of music lovers want the crispest sound on the go. Chunky designer headphones are now the hottest gadget to be seen with, for style-conscious consumers.

Gennaro Castaldo, is spokesman at music and technology store HMV.

"Headphones are leading the way because I think people realize that if you're going to appreciate digital music you can't have those tinny little headphones any more you want the proper deal. And leading the pack is Beats by Dr Dre, they've very smartly identified an opening in the market."

Beats By Dr Dre headphones are marketed by the hip-hop producer They're optimized specifically for digital music.

2011 was a great year for the portable touch-screen computing devices - with the launch of the Apple iPad 2, and rival launches by Asus, BlackBerry and Samsung.

However, over the next year it is predicted some of Apple's competitors in the market will fall by the wayside. Duncan Bell, operations editor of T3 magazine explains:

"I think in 2012 we're not going to see huge leaps forward in tablets. There'll be a new iPad, there'll be new Samsung tablets, there'll be I think possibly interest from other manufacturers is petering out because they found they can't take on the iPad."

In 2010 3D TVs were being tipped for great things. But throughout 2011 the phenomenon has failed to capture the wider public's imagination.

Now with prices for 3D sets falling and manufacturers favoring passive technology, which doesn't require expensive powered glasses, more sets are being sold. Bell isn't convinced the appetite is there yet, though.

"By and large, where people are buying 3D TVs it's mainly just because they're just buying a new telly because they need or want a new telly and it just happens to be 3D. I don't think consumers are actively getting like 'oh, I must have a 3D telly!' At the moment the problem remains that there's nothing decent to watch in 3D and that problem isn't going to go away any time soon."

In the week before Christmas online retailer Amazon announced its Kindle eReader device was selling more than one million units a week. Amazon says it has maintained this sales figure for three consecutive weeks.

And 2012 is going to be a big year for Amazon, as it backs its full-color version - the Kindle Fire.

The communications technology industry is preparing for the wider roll out of the fourth generation network-the 4G. Succeeding 3G, the new wireless network will allow download speeds of around 100Mbit/second.

2012 is coming, what are your expectations for these fancy high-tech gadgets?

For CRI, I am Li Dong.