Half the Songs on the Average Teen's iPod Are Illegal
by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 16th 2008 at 11:47AM
If you were to dig through the average 18-year-old's iPod, you'll find quite a bit of illegally obtained music. According to a recent British study, an average of 842 illegally downloaded tracks can be found on a 14-24 year-old's iPod. 842 songs equals about half of the average music collection for the same age group.
The study also proved once and for all that anyone who says they don't illegally download music is probably lying. 96 percent of respondents age 18-24 have illegally copied or downloaded music, while 89 percent of 14-17 year olds have.
Record companies are desperate to put an end to piracy and restore revenue streams as CD sales continue to bottom out. This same study also showed that teens were willing to pay for legal subscription services. Even so, consumers have long had a number of legal subscription services -- Napster, Rhapsody, and others -- to choose from and yet none have truly taken off.
Perhaps if consumers weren't scarred by decades of greed, stupidity, crappy music and artificially inflated prices, they'd be more willing to play fairly. [Source: Times Online]
