Music Sharers Move Around
from the sort-of dept
Here’s yet another study that it looks like the press is misinterpreting to turn a small story into a bigger story. CNET is claiming that people who share files online are moving away from online services to trading via their iPods instead. That’s a stretch. Beyond the technical difficulty involved in “trading via your iPod,” this claim is based on simply the directional trends. The study claims that fewer people are sharing music online, but more are using other means, such as trading via an iPod. However, if you look at the absolute numbers, they’re likely to show that such “iPod trading” is a tiny fraction of those who share online. Furthermore, you have to wonder if there’s a bias from those surveyed — since they now know about all the lawsuits, they may be less likely to admit they share music online. About the only thing this study really shows is that people will continue to look for a variety places to get the music they like, and they aren’t limited to just one. This means that for every effort the recording industry makes to shut down file sharing offerings, people will just move on to something else.
Comments on “Music Sharers Move Around”
trading via ipod
x1% of people trade online
x2% of people trade physically
y1% of song data are traded online
y2% of song data is traded physically
I bet the y2 is larger than x2 – ex. you copy your friend’s entire 10gb song collection.