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.