Despite relatively constant entreaties from that obnoxious kid on the Dell computer commercials, I haven't upgraded in quite a while, and consequently downloading music and playing it back is not something I spend a lot of time doing.
And even with a fast connection I certainly wouldn't pay to download music.
I don't have the patience to download much stuff anyway and music sounds much better (to my ears at least) when I buy a compact disc (I like Djangos a lot) and play it on my stereo system. And despite the proliferation of MP3 sites and CD burners, apparently I'm not alone.
Hence the headline on a recent survey: "Fee-based Online Music Faces Uphill
Battle; Fewer Than 1 In 10 Have Ever Paid to Download."
The survey by international research firm Ipsos-Reid shows that only 8 percent of Americans over the age of 12 who have ever downloaded or streamed music off the Internet have actually paid for it.
And in what is worse news for the nascent online music business, 84 percent of those who have downloaded music without paying report they would not be likely to pay for streaming or downloading music — even if there was no free music available. Yes, kids, there was a reason Napster was so popular, and it's spelled f-r-e-e.
"This (survey data) suggests there may be resistance among current downloaders to the initial legitimate fee-based online music services recently launched by the major recording companies," said Matt Kleinschmit, senior research manager for Ipsos-Reid. "There currently appears to be a segment of the downloader population that has a fundamental objection to the idea of paying for music downloads or streams obtained from the Internet."
Actually there is a segment of old Internet hands and young cheapskates who have a fundamental objection to paying for ANYTHING on the Internet, except maybe access. Remember freeware?
Anyway, what was interesting was the survey found evidence that downloaders do not stop buying prerecorded compact discs when they discover downloading.
In fact, 81 percent of downloaders report their CD purchases have stayed the same or even increased since they initially began downloading music from the Internet.
Many folks surveyed said they are using the Internet for more than just downloading — they are listening to song clips, reading about lyrics and tour information and researching bands.
Kleinschmit said people "are taking advantage of the World Wide Web as a resource for both obtaining and researching music, and then often putting this ... knowledge to use in offline venues. Many of these individuals appear to be looking to the Internet as a way to discover new bands and sample different types of music prior to making a traditional retail purchase."
Meanwhile, despite the above, music shipments overall are down, and guess who gets the blame? Of course.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the principal trade association for the music industry, is blaming online piracy and CD burning as the major culprits for a 10.3 percent slide in 2001 music sales. According to RIAA data, total U.S. shipments dropped from 1.08 billion units shipped in 2000 to 968.58 million in 2001.
A study commissioned by the RIAA and conducted by Peter Hart Research Associates found that 23 percent of music consumers said that they did not buy more music in 2001 because they downloaded or copied most of their music for free. In fact, 50 percent of those music fans that have downloaded music for free in 2001 have made copies of it. Just two years ago, only 13 percent copied it onto a portable device or a CD burner.
The RIAA, of course is the outfit that helped to torpedo Napster, which now is converting over to an online music subscription service.
Napster plans to charge subscribers $5 to $10 per month for 50 downloads. The firm, which hasn't made much noise since this past July, is playing catch-up with rival subscription services offered by Pressplay, Listen.com's Rhapsody, and any firm that chooses to license MusicNet, the majority-owned RealNetworks Inc. platform.
It seems apparent that we're a long way from seeing how it all shakes out, and who knows what new technology may come along to shake things up further.
Meanwhile I'm enjoying my CD collection and occasionally — gasp! — listening to a real radio.
IE 7
Firefox 2.0
