Pew: File swappers use iPods, IM to trade tunes

Recording industry lawsuits against file swappers and P-to-P (peer-to-peer) software companies may be forcing Internet users onto informal networks to exchange songs and videos, according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

A Pew survey of 1,421 U.S. adult Internet users found that informal file-sharing networks are used by 19 percent of music and video downloaders, with MP3 players, e-mail and IM (instant message) products popular mediums for transferring files between friends and family. The results of the survey suggest that legal action by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and others is shifting file swapping to other online avenues, even as file-sharing activity recovers from recent declines, Pew said.

Around 27 percent of Internet users surveyed by Pew said they downloaded either music or video files over the Internet, and 48 percent of all those who downloaded said they use sources other than P-to-P networks or premium online services, such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes, to get music or video files. Pew estimates that about 18 million Americans are swapping files using nontraditional means based on the survey results.

Approximately 19 percent of the adult Internet users in the survey admitted to downloading files using an MP3 player, such as an Apple iPod. That translates into about 7 million adults, and is surprising, because products like the iPod are not designed to support file sharing between devices, said Mary Madden, a research specialist at Pew who wrote the report.

Exchanging music and video files over e-mail or IM networks was even more common. Twenty-eight percent of downloaders, or an estimated 10 million adult Internet users in the U.S., said they got files that way. Other alternative sources included music and movie Websites, blogs and online review sites.

The informal file-sharing on networks that also serve other purposes is harder to monitor and show that Internet users are just finding workarounds and alternative ways to trade files, Madden said.

"With the everyday use of e-mail and IM, it's interesting to see that around one in four downloaders get their files that way," she said.

File sharing through those means doesn't approach the scale of swapping on P-to-P networks, but does show that those who want to share songs or get a file are persistent, she said.

"People aren't sending entire albums, but if they hear a song and want to share it with a friend, they might be more comfortable sending it over IM (than using P-to-P software)," she said.

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