Appleis iPod and iPod mini had a 82% market share among hard drive-based portable music players in the last year, according to August figures from market research firm NPG Group. For all types of portable music players, Apple market share was 41.9%, the company told The Mac Observer, Monday.

A published report from Bloomberg News on Monday mistakingly gave the impression the 82% share was for all players.

The figure are for the month of August and are for US retail stores only, excluding direct sales and other online sales. The numbers are calculated using a percentage of actual unit sales reported by major retailers, such as Appleis retail stores, together with consumers surveys of buying habits.

The 82% market share of hard drive-based players is up from 64% from a year ago and 33% from two years ago, NPD said.

Among hard drive-based players, Creative Technology placed far second with a 3.7% share, followed by Rio at 3.2%.

Among all portable music players - hard drive-based as well as flash-based - Apple was first with 41.9%, Rio in second with 10.0%, iRiver in third with 9.3%, and RCA in fourth with 9.0%.

Brad Gibson contributed to this article.