Salesmen at computer and electronic stores across the country are witnessing a slow but significant shift in consumer behavior: Many people have become one-brand buyers.

Whether deciding to replace an old television, buy a DVD player, or upgrade to a new personal computer, Americans are increasingly sticking with one manufacturer, experts say.

Some do so because they trust one brand more than its competitors. But others align themselves with specific brands because of concerns over compatibility.

Their apprehension is understandable.

The growth over the past decade of digital technology, which allows large amounts of data to be easily stored and transferred, has given new life to devices that consumers use for both work and play.

Consider the camera. With film cameras, average users simply snapped through a roll of film and then took it to a photo lab for processing: one function, one device.

But digital-camera users can now introduce other devices into the process. They can download images onto a computer, a TV, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or send them to a printer. Likewise, audio and video can be passed around on a wide range of devices.

With all the overlaps, and the growing hype surrounding "networked homes," consumers are more concerned that their machines be able to work together.

But their perception that buying a single brand increases compatibility is more marketing-driven than reality.

"Nearly all manufacturers are trying to link peripherals together to get more money out of the sale," says Gary Peterson, director of research for ARS, a market-research firm in La Jolla, Calif. "Most of the time, regardless of what brand of products you have, they're going to work together just fine."

Customers at the Micro Center in Fairfax, Va., exemplify what many Americans think about brands. They not only assume that brand commonality is better, but that it's necessary.

"A lot of customers have the expectation that when they buy a [Hewlett-Packard] computer, they have to buy an HP monitor, and digital camera, and scanner," says Micro Center salesman Marc Washington.

Studies show that brand consistency is very important to consumers with less technical knowledge. Those who better understand how electronics work – a rarer breed as electronics become more complex – tend to buy from those firms best known for specializing in a given product category.

"Early adopters are more likely to be confident that they can figure out how to make things compatible. A more mainstream audience wants security," says Jed Kolko, a consumer-technology analyst with Forrester Research in San Francisco.

Growing caution on the part of consumers has led some big-name firms to expand their product lines. Computermaker Dell announced this fall that it would begin selling a printer and PDA. Televisionmaker Mitsubishi recently began offering audio devices, and companies that traditionally focus on audio, such as Marantz and Yamaha, now sell video products, including projection TVs and DVD players.

A few brands are out in front in the effort to offer a wide range of devices. In the home office, HP offers digital cameras, laptop computers, PCs, PDAs, film scanners, as well as printers for which they are so well known. Sony is the living-room behemoth, making DVD players, digital cameras and camcorders, TVs, VCRs, and video-game consoles, as well as laptops, PCs, PDAs, and printers, among other products.

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