Music pirates shun peer-to-peer for iPod-to-iPod

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.