Maybe it is the iPod factor, or maybe it is merely the result of the widely circulated reports of P2P users getting slapped with lawsuits, but a recent study shows that the numbers of people who admit to using such Web sites is declining.
Current users of file-sharing networks, such as Kazaa and bitTorrent, are now more likely to say they use online music services like iTunes than the P2P Web sites, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
But whether there is an actual decline in the use of such P2P sites is difficult to say, according to Mary Madden, research specialist. "Certainly one of the indicators that would suggest people are much less comfortable with this activity is the rise [in the number] who refuse to answer this question in our survey. That was a big indicator to us."
Awareness that this activity is illegal has risen dramatically, she says. "About a third of music downloaders have stopped using the P2P sites explicitly because of the lawsuits."
Growing Sources
There likely is a true decline of P2P usage, given the increasing availability of sources to download online music content legally. The percentage of people who download music from the Internet and who have tried paid services has grown to 43 percent from 24 percent in 2004.
Also, Pew found that more Internet users -- 27 percent of them, in fact -- have explored venues outside of traditional peer-to-peer networks or paid online services to swap their files.
Based on the survey, 19 percent of current music and video downloaders, or about 7 million adults, have downloaded files from someone else's iPod or MP3 player.
About 28 percent, or 10 million people, get music and video files via e-mail and instant messages, the survey suggests. Other alternative sources include music and movie Web sites, blogs and online review sites.
Who Is Responsible?
In what may be music to the recording industry's ears, the survey also found that 49 percent of all Americans and 53 percent of Internet users believe that the firms that own and operate file-sharing networks are responsible for the pirated material on their Web sites.
Less surprisingly, though -- and at odds with the industry's tactics -- only a small percent, some 18 percent of all Americans, think individual file traders should be held responsible.
Twelve percent said both companies and individuals should shoulder responsibility. Almost one in five (18 percent) said they did not know who should be held responsible, or they refused to answer the question.
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