NEWS As legal music downloading takes off as never before, music pirates are shunning peer-to-peer services in favour of using iPods to swap music.
According to a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the number of music downloaders using P2P networks has dropped in recent months. Currently, 21 per cent of downloaders use networks such as Kazaa or Grokster for music or video, compared to the 58 per cent who downloaded music from file-sharing networks in February 2004.
By contrast, other methods of swapping music are gaining favour. Alongside IM, blogs and other sources, iPods are becoming a popular music transfer tool. Eleven per cent of former file-sharers admitted to using iPods or other MP3 players to swap songs in the past, compared to the 15 per cent of downloaders as a whole who currently do.
While Apple's iTunes Music Store allows users to download purchased songs to an unlimited number of iPods, the report states that users are also happy to use complex DRM-cracking software to trade music.
"Digital audio players like the iPod that can store thousands of songs and other files are emerging as an alternative way to access media files and avoid some of the potential risks of peer-to-peer usage," the report adds.
However, the report hints the number of P2P users could in fact be far higher: "Respondents may now be less likely to report peer-to-peer usage due to the stigma associated with the networks."
Broadband, it seems, is likely to encourage criminal behaviour.
"These broadband users who have high-speed access at home and at work represent a leading edge of content consumers and content creators and are among the most likely to have used peer-to-peer services," the report says.
Nevertheless, legal downloading is putting its pirate cousin in the shade in terms of growth. The report found 43 per cent of downloaders have tried legal sites, compared with 24 per cent in 2004.
A small percentage of internet users have fallen out of love with the downloading scene as a whole and now no longer get their music from the net at all. Eleven per cent of all internet users once got music online but don't any more, with 44 per cent of those previously using Kazaa and illegal alternatives and another 25 per cent having lost interest in legal sites like iTunes.
"Among all former music and video downloaders, 28 per cent volunteer that the main reason they stopped was because they were afraid to get in trouble or heard about the RIAA lawsuits," the report concludes.
Fifteen per cent of ex-downloaders said they quit because they were getting too many viruses, pop-up ads and other PC problems as a result of their online music activity.
Comments
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1. anonymous
Price fixing by the music industry on CD's illegally cost me an extra $5 USD per CD. I have bought more than 1,000 discs.
Class action lawsuit finding was capped at a $20 maximum claim per person. I am owed literally $5,000 in illegal theft by the music industry.
I fully intend to get my money back from them and will never buy another disc again and if they think that's unfair, well they can keep their $20.
When they do the right thing, I will follow suit.
2. Simon
I can only assume that "Got broadband at home and work? You're probably a criminal" is yet another of those headlines designed to attract attention - but at this point, I believe a great many of us should be sueing for libel !
I've got broadband at home and work, I don't illegally copy misic. I suggest Silicon.com apologise for their libellous suggestion that people with broadband are automatically criminals.
(Ed note. Don't hold your breath Simon - most silicon.com readers should be mature enough to cope with a headline intended to paraphrase a generalisation and provoke comment.)
3. Mark SPLINTER
And still the majors make crap music.
4. deejay
Perhaps the people doing these kinds of surveys do not realise the amount of file sharing software programs there are out there. It strikes me that they tend to survey the "major" P2P's like Kazaa etc. Perhaps what is happening is people are moving away from the high profile P2P's to the smaller "unnoticed" P2P's??
Downloads using P2P's like Kazaa tend to come with unwanted nasties. Its the same as the PC vs Apple problem with Virus etc. Virus writers dont bother with Apple because the scope is so much smaller. People use smaller P2P programs now because they download exactly what they asked for and seem to be overlooked by the music corporations.