Australia is now the cheapest place in the world to buy an iPod, thanks to the Australian dollar's sharp decline, a new study shows.

And it's not just good news for music lovers, with CommSec saying the currency's decline will boost Australia's trade competitiveness and help insulate the nation from the global economic downturn.

The CommSec iPod index shows that Australia is the cheapest place among 62 countries to buy an Apple iPod 8GB nano music player. It ranked as the 14th cheapest in July.