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Average iPod has 842 unauthorized tracks, says survey

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2008 4:33 User comments (26)

Average iPod has 842 unauthorized tracks, says survey

According to a new survey by the University of Hertfordshire, 14-24 year old iPod owners have on average 842 unauthorized songs on those iPods and download an average of 53 more each month.
The survey polled 1200 participants from that age range and that own iPods and found that nearly 70 percent download unauthorized music on a regular basis. 42 percent of those surveyed also admitted to uploading music to P2P networks.

The survey was commissioned by British Music Rights (BMR) and CEO Fergal Sharkey had this to add. "I was one of those people who went around the back of the bike shed with songs I had taped off the radio the night before. But this totally dwarfs that, and anything we expected," he added of the results.



BMR has been campaigning to make legal music services more appealing and easy to use while at the same time making piracy less appealing. The group feels the best way to do this is to have ISPs offer unlimited music download services as an additional fee to a standard broadband package.

"The positive message is that 80 per cent of downloaders said they would pay for a legal subscription-based service, and they told us they would be willing to pay more than a few pounds a month,"
added Sharkey.

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26 user comments

117.6.2008 16:41

Not 843... Not 841...

I wonder how they came up with that figure?

Anyways, adding a music service as yet another fee for already high ISP prices is dumb. Subscription services are already out there, no need to include it as a "feature" for the telcos to make more money. Leaving that choice up to me saves me money, especially since I don't use my ISP's lame email that is "included" with my monthly service fee.

217.6.2008 17:13

842 was most likely the total average. What you do is take all the # of songs people have in their ipods and add them together, and then divide that # by how many people you got the info from and you get 842. Simple math really.

Anyway, I guess I don't have an average ipod. Considering I have less then half that figure, and they are either from youtube, or a friend.... So it's not exactly authorized, but it's not exactly illegal either.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 17 Jun 2008 @ 5:14

317.6.2008 17:18

160gbs holds a lot more than just "stolen" music ;)

417.6.2008 18:25
tripplite
Inactive

a 20 gb ipod costs around 10,000 dollars to fill up with music????????????????????

do they really except us to though out 1/5 of what will make in a year???
and for most people its more then 1/5!... ridicules!

john lennon tracks are 99 cents a piece.....does he get any of the money?? ya i didnt think so....

whatever
-tripplite

517.6.2008 19:45

I'm pretty sure most people have "unauthorized" music on there iPod. The way I understand it, technically unless you buy your music from iTunes, or any other music service, it's not authorized. Correct me if I'm wrong. Personally I'm not pay for mp3s of a cd I have already purchased.

617.6.2008 20:01

Originally posted by o0cynix0o:
I'm pretty sure most people have "unauthorized" music on there iPod. The way I understand it, technically unless you buy your music from iTunes, or any other music service, it's not authorized. Correct me if I'm wrong. Personally I'm not pay for mp3s of a cd I have already purchased.
Exactly unauthorized means you have not paid for that music. However, if you have the CDs, why not rip the music yourself and have better quality then you would have from re-downloading?

717.6.2008 20:17

there is going to be piracy no matter how much money they spend fighting it. if you were to listen to them my friend loaning me his original cd and me just listening to it is probably considered piracy.

they already have more money then they could possibly ever spend, i guarantee even people that illigaly download buy cds as well. they will always have more money then they can spend so whats the point in going after poor people, that cant afford to buy cd's let alone there inflated fines? i could see if they sued you for $0.99 a track plus a small fee for there time, or based upon your salary, so if you make $7.00 an hour you pay whats affordable to you where as if you make $20 an hour you pay more, the idea should not be to sue people for a high amount of money and make them loose everything the own. it should be to teach them a lesson so next time they will go out and buy the cd. with the economy the way it is if you sued somebody for only $1000 i guarantee they would think twice before doing it again i also guarantee if sony bmg sued a family member of yours nobody in the family would ever buy a sony bmg cd again.

i blame the American justice system for even entertaining company's that sue individuals for an incredible amount of money, the government needs to tell them they can only sue the person for whats affordable to them.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 17 Jun 2008 @ 8:19

817.6.2008 20:40

Quote:
a 20 gb ipod costs around 10,000 dollars to fill up with

And would probably take a couple of years to hear all of the songs at least once.

They need to face it. An Ipod is the radio of our time. They need to come up with a business model that allows people to use their devices the way they want to, basically like a programmable radio or they need to just get out of the business.

917.6.2008 21:54

To tell you the truth, I think piracy of music leads to the artist becoming more well known. This is how it goes:
Kid A goes up to kid B: "Hey listen to this song on my iPod"
Kid A hasn't paid for the song.
Kid B listens to the song "Wow that song is good, I'm gonna put that on my iPod"
Kid B puts it on his iPod and the cycle repeats, thus more people supporting the artist and buying CDs occasionally, attending his concerts, etc.
No matter how much music is downloaded, there will still be the people that buy the CD, and right now is it the artists caring about the piracy or is it the companies that sell the music? Its the companies so who gives a f*** about them? As long as the artists don't complain.

1017.6.2008 22:52

Originally posted by core2kid:
No matter how much music is downloaded, there will still be the people that buy the CD, and right now is it the artists caring about the piracy or is it the companies that sell the music? Its the companies so who gives a f*** about them? As long as the artists don't complain.
I think a perfect example of this is what Nine Inch Nails has done. Give some of it away for free, and give the rest to those who pay.

Real "Pirates" have some respect and decency. We love our free stuff, but because of what NiN did I went and bought one of the continuation albums from their free torrents.

As well, if your illegal pirating will cause a band not to produce more songs of COURSE you're going to go buy a CD to support them. (I just hope music labels don't lie to consumers about a band being broken up just to sell CD's.)

1118.6.2008 01:09

I also think that record companies need to understand that downloader/ uploader usually equals fan. I don't know about the rest of you but I have never downloaded or uploaded anything I didn't like. It's not like I have this huge collection of Prince at home I'm waiting to give away.

1218.6.2008 04:14

IPod........ What's an Ipod? ;-)

1318.6.2008 06:49

All I can say is good pink grief!

1418.6.2008 07:05

842??

so ani1 have that much?

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 18 Jun 2008 @ 7:29

1518.6.2008 08:46

Um.....I plead the fifth...

1618.6.2008 09:08

Originally posted by Blackjax:
IPod........ What's an Ipod? ;-)

I just got an iPod mini from a friend. All it includes is the motherboard, battery, and hard drive. I can access all the music on it by connecting it to my computer and loading iTunes. I guess this is called stealing since I didn't pay for the iPod or music? Lol.

1718.6.2008 10:40

just think, somebody had to buy the CD in order to upload it (in most cases, at least with myself anyways)

plus the CDs are just too damn much. you give me high quality 320kpbs mp3 downloads for a reasonable price, then we'll talk.

1818.6.2008 10:47

Originally posted by xSModder:
just think, somebody had to buy the CD in order to upload it (in most cases, at least with myself anyways)

plus the CDs are just too damn much. you give me high quality 320kpbs mp3 downloads for a reasonable price, then we'll talk.

Even if the prices are reasonable, I don't think many people would just switch over from P2P programs to buying music. I like DRM free music so I can burn it onto a CD for a boombox, MP3 CDs for a Car, iPod, phone, etc. I shouldn't have to pay for each place I want to put the music on.

1918.6.2008 12:31

i have about 850 unauthorized tracks but the RIAA doesn't own them they are from Underground Rap Mixtapes which are free and legal to download for promotional use I also buy music from iTunes, but mostly lately it has been Amazon's MP3 store, I won't lie I also use torrents, and limewire but if I download music that I like ie Tha Carter III I ended up buying it on Amazon even know I torrented it a week before its release date.

2018.6.2008 12:49

kinda off topic, but kinda not.....
You know what just dawned on me. You don't hear to many artists(recent artists) complaining. Sure you got Prince and micheal Jackson, but really what about the people that are current??
Do ya know why??? They don't make that much money from record sales. The record label does.
Sure the artist gets a glob of money from the get go, but most of their revanue comes from concerts and T-shirts.
I find that very ironic, and applaud those artists that have realized this and appeased there fans. ex. NIN
Just my thoughts
LD

2118.6.2008 18:52

Quote:
Quote:
a 20 gb ipod costs around 10,000 dollars to fill up with

And would probably take a couple of years to hear all of the songs at least once.

They need to face it. An Ipod is the radio of our time. They need to come up with a business model that allows people to use their devices the way they want to, basically like a programmable radio or they need to just get out of the business.
20 gigs is only a few weeks worth of music...

2218.6.2008 20:46

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
a 20 gb ipod costs around 10,000 dollars to fill up with

And would probably take a couple of years to hear all of the songs at least once.

They need to face it. An Ipod is the radio of our time. They need to come up with a business model that allows people to use their devices the way they want to, basically like a programmable radio or they need to just get out of the business.
20 gigs is only a few weeks worth of music...

A lot more than a few weeks at 8kbps ;)

2319.6.2008 19:08

The point is that if you have 20gigs of music you are not listening to each and every song, over and over and over. You are listening to it like you do the radio. Random songs, or maybe a playlist with 1/50 th of your collection.
On the other hand, a purchased CD tends to get listened to over and over, hence the charge.

I've got maybe 6gigs of music and the vast majority of those songs have maybe been listened to once.

2420.6.2008 16:46

Just imagine the people that have bought the 160GB iPod. They can have about 40,000 songs on it, if they just want to listen to music and not watch movies, tv programs, or listen to podcasts and the like.

I would like to know from the RIAA how in the world I'm going to steal music, when I would rather pay for it legally online or in the store, as long as the price is reasonable?? Quite frankly, the prices are not reasonable as all. It is silly that a newly bought and never watched DVD movie or tv show from say, last year is way cheaper than a CD of songs that were made at least 2 years or more (often all the way back to the music of the 1930's, for example).

One last thing to note: I bought a couple of 2 CD sets of some old R&B and Rock music for $9.99 US, when last week, each cost $20.99 US. So, my question is, how much is the music industry losing in falling CD sales?? The music industry is stunning in their stupidity, and they're paying for it with falling CD sales.

2520.6.2008 22:57
tripplite
Inactive

Quote:
just imagine the people that have bought the 160GB iPod. They can have about 40,000 songs on it, i
apples reinvents the wheel with every sell of every new ipod...people see a new model 2 times a year and they jump on it....the new nano?? wtf
doesn't anybody realized that there old player was small enough anyway??
apple makes the consumer....the consumer has lost power....a lot of people dont even know theres other ways to download music besides itunes....


thanks Steve jobs....

-tripplite

2623.6.2008 13:55

Fergal Sharkey would have had the biggest ipod he could afford. Why he can't figure out why young (poor) persons are doing the exact same thing he did is mind boggling. The main difference is now uses can get great sounding music not the garbage he had to be content with. The real difference is now old folks with money are also getting into it. Probably because the sound quality is there. Maybe it is payback for years of abuse forom the music industry.

matt876 that is down right un-American! This is the land of the free. You can sue someone for making a microwave without any defects. It worked as advertised. A person sued a microwave company because they wanted to dry off their little dogie and they were too lazy and stupid to us a towel. They used a microwave OVEN and cooked the dog insted. Although they were too stupid to figure an over would cook a dog they were not so stupid when it came to getting a good lawyer. Now THAT is AMERICA!!!

hendrix04, it does depend if you are listening to the music or just playing it 24/7. 20 g at 128 BR played 24/7 will take a month. However, you can't listen to it in a month. It would take over a year to play if you listened 14 hrs a week.

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