March 9, 2026

Demand for MP3 players surges in Russia. Media link it to censorship on music streaming services

In February, sales of MP3 players in Russia increased by 23% compared to the same period last year. This is reported by the Telegram channel Baza, citing data from the service Avito. The channel's authors note that 80% of Avito users purchase used devices, with their average cost on the secondary market being 6,300 rubles. According to Google Trends, in the first week of March, queries like 'mp3 player', 'buy ipod', and similar reached their peak popularity in Russia. 'Prodolzhenie sleduet' and SOTAvision drew attention to this. Previously, demand for MP3 players in Russia was almost zero. Baza attributes the increased interest of Russians in MP3 players to the intensified censorship of tracks on streaming platforms. 'For people, this is a guarantee that downloaded songs and albums will not be deleted or modified without their knowledge,' the authors claim. From March 1, a law came into force in Russia, tightening responsibility for mentioning drugs in musical works. Against this backdrop, many artists have begun to massively censor words related to prohibited substances.