Music no longer tops for file sharers

[Miniver]

From Msnbc

PARIS(AP) - Music is no longer the download of choice for Internet file swappers, according to a new study on online file sharing.
For the first time last year, music swapping on the Internet was outpaced by the copying of movies and other non-audio files, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to be published Monday.
Across the OECD's 30 industrialized member countries, music accounted for 48.6 percent of files shared online, compared with 62.5 percent in 2002, according to excerpts of the report seen by The Associated Press.

Video accounted for 27 percent, up from 25.2 percent, the study will say.

The findings will do little to reassure movie studios, which are worried that they will be the next victims of the ever speedier Internet connections and compression technologies on offer to consumers.

Online piracy through sites like Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus _ which let computer users connect directly to one another to exchange files _ has already been blamed for a five-year decline in CD sales that has hurt music labels.

European countries are leading the way in movie downloading, the OECD report shows, with video accounting for 35.4 percent of files swapped by German users of Kazaa, compared to 23.7 percent by U.S. users.

Web surfers based in Italy, Belgium, France, Norway, Britain, Finland and Poland also downloaded a higher percentage of movies than those in the United States.

A separate global study published Thursday by the Motion Pictures Association found that about one in four Internet users had already downloaded a movie. Most said they would pirate more if they took less time to download.

Full Article

[Wolfie]

Even so the music industry still continues to whine....

[Miniver]

Link to related report by the Mpaa
http://www.mpaa.org/MPAAPress/2004/2004_07_08.pdf

[FrozenShadow23]

Huh, seems as though I'm behind the times then. I've only aquired a few full length movies ever. If you include anime then... well I've got a bit more of that.

[DampCold]

I don't download movies since I don't really watch much. I think most the stuff put out is crap and not worth my time. The few movies I do see I like to watch in the theatre. Occasionally I'll watch a movie on TV if it looks interesting, however I sort of quit watching TV as well. Zeropaid is my entertainment source when I am not with people (usually sometime around 2-4am). :)

[rebirth]

eh, so true.

[Miniver]

I end up downloading a crapload of movies right when they come out and then watch them sparingly. I watch probably the first 15 minutes and if it hooks me in I keep watching, if not they get chucked into the recycle bin without another thought. I have about 15 right now I haven't even looked at yet.

[rebirth]

hmm. I am downloading a few movies right now, an OS, and complete albums. I'm replacing all the things that just got wiped off my iPod. It sucks. iTunes deleted everything from my iPod that I had deleted from my harddrive.

[Betamax]

Don't have time to read the articles right now -going to bed. I was wondering how they're measuring this; number/availability of files or megabytes? I mean their must be many more mp3's dl'ed, but movies/apps might be greater in MB volume?

...

[Mels_Smileys45]

I've been downloading movies and TV shows for over 2 years now. I was still on dial up when I got my first movie in avi form and I was AMAZED! It took a week of solid downloading on KaZaa! Even though it took so long, I was hooked and I've been at it every since. Theres no way I can even watch all the swag. I end up watching the rare stuff and shelving all the stuff I've seen before elsewhere. I now spend 80 % of my time on open nap because of movie only servers where you can find people sharing their personal collections.