new delhi the rs 1000crore audio industry is seeing a frequency change gentlemen prefer radios or so it seems going by the buzz around expensive bose or world space receivers also in vogue are upmarket products like audiovideo compact discs cds or the cdradiocassette recorders cdrcrs biting the dust mostly on rural roads are the common radios or even the once ubiquitous stereo cassette recorders the latest orggfk report clearly brings out the divide industry players who have been crying themselves hoarse about the audio market being in the throes of depression are right those who say it is growing at a smart clip are right too it all depends on the segment you are looking at industry players blame the fragmented monsoons the hike in excise and sales tax and lack of consumer finance in the rural areas for segments like the radio suffering says rajeev karwal head of consumer electronics at philips the three factors combined have killed rural appetite the highend products are weathering the storms explains gurdeep singh md national panasonic these are niche products popular in higher income groups that are anyway protected from the adverse sentiments plus there is consumer finance that comes to their aid the more understable performance is in the sophisticated products the audio cd player segment for instance grew 32 per cent in value between januaryaugust 2001 compared to the same period last year the portable cds player grew 22 per cent cdrcr segment grew 925 per cent between july 2000 and july 2001 a little difficult to understand is the simultaneous dip in the lowpriced segments while radios the rural lifeline have dipped 93 per cent between januaryaugust 2001 compared to januaryaugust 2000 the stereo cassette recorders have fallen 204 per cent the midis and micros have dipped by 473 per cent and 257 per cent respectively so are companies likely to shift focus to higherend products sony india appears to be it claims to have a leadership in mini hifi category with over 35 per cent market share singh of panasonic however says the sheer volumes available in the lowertomid segment rule out a shift to the top segment as a strategy philips is approaching rural scene with product innovations it is planning to introduce a belowrs1000 powerfree radio in the next two months