Noting that more than one third of U.S. households have audio and photo content libraries on their PCs, and that 7 million households have feature-length Internet movie libraries, the Yankee Group predicts that a nascent product category – media nodes – will hit the market in late 2003 and grow quickly thereafter.

Media nodes, currently in development by consumer electronics, PC and other digital media manufacturers, are devices that enable PC-based content – such as movies, music or photos – to be played back via a traditional television or stereo system.

"Consumer digital media libraries will continue to swell, driving demand for media nodes, particularly among networked homes and consumers over age 25," said Dominic Ainscough, senior analyst for the Yankee Group's Media and Entertainment Strategies research and consulting practice. "This is the killer app home networking stakeholders have been waiting for to drive the use of home networks.”

The Yankee Group said it expects the market for media nodes to reach 18.5 million homes by 2007.

For more information, visit The Yankee Group.