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Music Businesses Media Apple

iPod Owners Not Thieves 470

Posted by Zonk from the we-always-knew-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Remember last year when Microsoft head Steve Ballmer said iPod owners were music thieves and their iPods were full of stolen music? It turns out they're actually less likely to download music using filesharing software than owners of other MP3 players. A lot less likely." From the article: "A survey of US and UK music buyers reveals that although 25 per cent of people admit to downloading music from file-sharing services, only seven per cent of iPod owners do so. Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."
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iPod Owners Not Thieves More

iPod Owners Not Thieves

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  • "Lesser music players..." -- ??? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohnNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:30PM (#14467125) Journal
    Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."
    Sounds like flamebait to me. Calling every other music player "lesser." Yeah, no other music player holds up to an iPod.

    In my opinion, I think there [bose.com] is [sennheiserusa.com] some [iriver.com] competition [creative.com] to consider before making that bold statement.

    • MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Trogre ( 513942 )
      Parent is right.

      Ipods can't even do vorbis or FM radio.

      There are much better alternatives.

    • Re:"Lesser music players..." -- ??? (Score:4, Informative)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:39PM (#14467234) Homepage Journal
      Putting Bose in your first link destroyed all credibility :) Besides, if you go to the bose site, the only portable music product you find is a speaker dock for the iPod that puts the pod right in front of the speakers where any bass (if it had any) could shake the shit out of that little sucker (definitely what I have come to expect from bose.) That's not exactly competition...
    • You missed it..

      The problem with that sentance is...

      either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA ...

      or lazy? Why hunt through p2p networks when itunes has it right there?

      I'm not scared of RIAA. I'm not scrupulously honest. I AM lazy, and will take the method of least effort to achieve my goals.

    • Paranoid? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by plover ( 150551 ) * on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:52PM (#14467361) Homepage Journal
      "Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."

      Paranoid? How about "three times more likely to lie to a potential RIAA lawyer that they download music?" Or "three times less stupid?" Perhaps, less inflammatorily, we could say "iPod owners are three times more informed about the rapacious RIAA barrators."

      I don't think it counts as paranoia when they're publicly taking down 8-year-old girls and 72-year-old grandmas. It's self preservation.

      • "they're publicly taking down 8-year-old girls and 72-year-old grandmas" Yes, because 8-year olds and grandmothers should be above the law./sarcasm

    • Stoopid Summary (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) *
      Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."

      Sounds like flamebait to me. Calling every other music player "lesser." Yeah, no other music player holds up to an iPod.

      Instead of jumping all over the place, how about considering iPod users are more likely to have money hanging out of their pockets than other MP3 player users? Having more disposable income is highly likely to influence the choice between buying

  • Big news? (Score:5, Funny)

    by rjung2k ( 576317 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:31PM (#14467135) Homepage
    So Steve Ballmer is an idiot. This is news?

  • Could be that iPod owners have more... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SIGFPE ( 97527 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:31PM (#14467139) Homepage
    ...disposable income to spend on legal downloads than owner of lesser^H^H expensive mp3 players.

    • ...disposable income to spend on legal downloads than owner of lesser^H^H expensive mp3 players.

      I'd say that this is actually quite likely.

      My friend and I recently went to an Apple store to replace his worn out earbuds for his ipod. They had two different earbuds for sale; both over an hundred clams. Not having access to large amounts of money, we ended up going elsewhere.

      By noticing the large amount of hundred dollar shirts, two hundred dollar shoes, and smelling quite a large amount of yuppiness,

      • No that can't be right. Don't you mean that they had a lot of disposable income, right up until they bought the ipod? ;-)
      • Another idea is that iPod owners are just plain lazy. The thing I like most about my iPod is that it is easy to use, and so is iTunes. The other players I have played with are much less easy to use[1]. Illegal downloading is a huge amount of effort, and I just can't be bothered. I don't use iTMS, because I've been bitten by the DRM (I have two mobile devices that can play MPEG-4 audio, and neither of them support Apple DRM). Basically, I now only get new music when people give me CDs these days (I very
        • I've been bitten by the DRM

          The normal arguement is that it's easy to crack, but at the moment it's not the case. Give it time though, and it will be again. When that time comes, I'll strip/scrub all of my new songs and they'll be free to play wherever I want just like all the stuff that I bought before the newest version of FairPlay broke HYMN.

          Keep your eye on HYMN. When an update is released that works, you can bet iTMS users everywhere will have their system busy for several hours. :)

          I buy my music. I

    • Re:Could be that iPod owners... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SimplexO ( 537908 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:15PM (#14467564) Homepage
      are more enticed to use the bundled iTunes legal purchasing software that works well with their computer, their iPod, and the fact that they really don't understand computers? Isn't this software Darwinism? Build good software and they will come, right?

      My brother got a nano and he got my dad to buy some music from iTMS, even though he had previously gotten them for free off of peer networks. He could have gotten those songs for free, but since his iPod came with iTunes, he used the included software to get some music. Songs at a reasonable price, found using software he can use. It all makes sense to me.

  • Convenience (Score:5, Insightful)

    by vijayiyer ( 728590 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:32PM (#14467140)
    People who have iPods have demonstrated a willingness to pay for ease of use and simplicity. That they would spend money at the iTunes Music Store to easily download music rather than go through the hassle of downloading it from a p2p network should not be surprising.

    • Re:Convenience (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Aqua OS X ( 458522 )
      Agreed, although I have my gripes with the ITMS, I have begun to use it a LOT this year.

      I listen to a lot of indie and underground stuff, and I'm able to find a preview new music in ways that I simply couldn't do through P2P or at my favorite record stores. And I live in SF... we have some -good- record stores.

      If Apple would allow people to search by artist label and would offer high bit rate files, I'd be willing to direct deposit right into the ITMS ;)
    • Funny you should mention that. I've got some music in my iTunes downloaded from the store, some ripped from CDs I own, and some that I downloaded from eTree in FLAC or SHN lossless-compression formats (legal jam-band concert downloads.) The tools for converting lossless formats into MP3 or AAC seem to have real problems keeping track of information about the music - they know it's "gdead 1995-06-27 - track 4", but don't seem to have a way to import the song names that's better than doing cut&paste. I

    • Re:Convenience (Score:2, Interesting)

      by guice ( 907163 )
      I have to agree 100% with that, too. I'm one of them!

      I tried downloading songs, but found such a hassle getting anything of good quality. I'd have 24 songs, 18 of which were just horriable. I gave up on downloading. The iPod/iTunes just makes things easier. You can always get a short 30 second preview and you're always guarenteed to have a full song with no "beeps", "scratches" or anything ruining a good song.

      Paying for songs have never been a concern of mine---the raise in prices IS. I remember the promise

    • Re:Convenience (Score:4, Informative)

      by the MaD HuNGaRIaN ( 311517 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:55PM (#14467392)
      Since I am already a member of the Apple Fanboy List [slashdot.org] I can reply without fear of reprocussions.

      I can honestly say that this is exactly why I use ITMS rather than P2P.
      My time is more valuable than the .99 cents it takes to click a couple buttons and have the song right there in my iPod--and the quality is always the same.

      Quite honestly, I don't have time to hunt a P2P network for some obsure ass thing and then find out that it's 128bit and has a couple CD skipping noises in the middle of it. No thanks.
    • That's very accurate. These days, other than USENET, I really don't even know where to go to find music. Ever since Kazaa went into spyware mode, and limewire with its adware stuff, I gave up P2P applications for the most part (and I lost my kazaa lite copy). Of course, now that I'm on the mac, limewire is pretty decent for some things (without the annoying adware/spyware component), but I find that most music I want to check out is on iTunes. There's some exceptions, of course, but for the most part, I
    • I agree 100% with the parent.

      It all comes down to pain. How much pain is inflicted by $1? How much pain is inflicted by finding a decent P2P app, avoiding viruses, then getting a quality download. Most of the users I encounter will pay the dollar.

  • iPod wrapper says "Don't Steal Music" (Score:3, Funny)

    by billstewart ( 78916 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:32PM (#14467145) Journal
    I just received an iPod (because my employer prefers to reward performance with consumer electronics as opposed to actual cash, but whatever :-) Once you get past the outer packaging, the iPod's wrapped in a plastic layer that says "Don't Steal Music" in several languages, so I've been warned. Now if I could just get the battery to charge correctly :-)

    also, this might be a first post...

  • Good News (Score:5, Funny)

    by 2names ( 531755 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:33PM (#14467148)
    Dear RIAA,

    For the record, I own an iPod, so you can put me on the "Do Not Sue" list.

    Sincerely,

    Me

    • Re:Good News (Score:5, Funny)

      by Savage-Rabbit ( 308260 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:25PM (#14467668)
      Dear Me,

      While we cannot remove you from our "Will Sue" list (We sue everybody on principle) we are however pleased to inform you that we have recalled the team of ex-deltaforce commandos we contracted to assassinate you a week ago.

      In the hope this E-Mail finds you still alive, sincerely,

      RIAA
      • Dear RIAA,

        I am sorry to inform you that we have already performed your orders and have assasinated 2names. Sorry, but with the sheer number of contracts you have put out we need to move quickly to get all 100 million file sharers in the US.

        Sincerely,

        Ex-deltaforce assasination team
  • > Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."

    Not really. It's just that it's so much easier to buy from the iTunes store than it is to run some lame P2P app.
  • I suspect a lot of iPod owners just assume that the only place they get music for it is by ripping from their CDs or buying from itunes.

  • Info about other MP3 players is incorrect (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DoorFrame ( 22108 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:33PM (#14467160) Homepage
    The stat doesn't indicate that Ipod owners steal music less frequently than non-ipod owners. It's possible from those numbers that all owners of MP3 players steal music at the lower 7% rate. The rest of the illegal music downloading could be coming from those of use who don't own any MP3 players. The article doesn't mention any other MP3 players or their stats.

    Not saying that it's wrong, I'm just saying that you haven't backed it up with anything.
    • Let's do a comparison between Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X box owners.

      I wonder if "windows owners" will come out as thieves? Especially as this is a more relevant to downloading, I don't think an iPod can surf the web and download anything..... but boxen can!

  • Or.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by irw ( 204684 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:34PM (#14467162)
    Third option - iPod owners are liars

    *ducks*
  • It's the sticker in the packaging that you see when you open it up: "Please don't steal music". Who'd have thought people would pay attention?
  • A disproportionate number of iPod owners use Macs, and most filesharing software is for PCs.
  • Apple just makes it REALLY easy for users to use iTunes to pay for legitimate music. Or, maybe iPod users are typically less computer savvy and don't know where to download music. Or, maybe iPod users are MORE deceptive, and were less likely to admit to a stranger that they break the law. Or, maybe iPod users were under represented in the survey? Or... any number of other reasons.

  • Or possibly... (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by giorgiofr ( 887762 )
    They just don't know HOW to use a file-sharing app! I mean, there are big bad config's to set, and what is this "router" thing you keep bugging me about? I want it to JUST WORK!
    Yes, this was tongue-in-cheek.

  • Or another possibility (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TWX ( 665546 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:35PM (#14467183)
    "Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."

    Or, that since they have a legal, inexpensive way to obtain the specific music that they want to play, they are more inclined to actually spend $5.00 to get five songs from five different bands instead of $16 for twelve songs from one band, with only one song that they actually want.

    Or still, that the people who bought iPods coincidentally are also the same people who already have large CD collections, so they were inclined to rip and encode their music specifically so that they could play it on the iPod, rather than having to resort to scavenging the Internet for music because they were too cheap to pay for it...
  • The iTunes music store eliminates what used to be a HUGE money hole for myself... hunting down import singles for B-sides. Moreso than other music services, iTunes has the obscure releases by the artists that I want, without having to pay an extra $15 a pop... none of which the artist will ever see. And the audio quality is far better than what I may have the off chance of finding off in the armpit of p2p.

    Couple that with being able to download it, throw is on my iPod and go? It's easier than pirating.

  • Microsoft just doesn't get it ... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by orangeguru ( 411012 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:35PM (#14467185) Homepage
    Stever Job once correctly stated that the iTunes store has to compete with P2P services / pirating. They succeded - and it is bloody convinient too.

    The iTunes store offers so far the best online music store and player combination (software and portable). So far none of the other companies have succeded in offering a better combo. The winner takes it all ...

  • Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Zebra_X ( 13249 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:35PM (#14467186)
    After using iTunes, who wants to sift through a bunch of songs of questionable quality, infectiousness, and organization. Really, what a waste of time.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:35PM (#14467187)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I disagree with the conclusions. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by XorNand ( 517466 ) * on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:35PM (#14467188)
    Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players.
    Option C:) Apple has successfully eliminated the incentive to "steal" music by making it cheaper to buy iTunes tracks than to use alternative backchannels. We all make time/money trade-offs everyday: eating out vs. cooking our own food, changing our own oil vs. paying someone else $25 to do it, buying a Roomba or vacuuming our place more often. Buying music isn't any different. iTunes with an iPod can't get any easier and therefore saves a lot of people valuable time.

    I'm no Apple fanboy, but I give them major kudos to pull off what the RIAA and the major labels are too stupid to understand. This was a technological and economical war from the beginning. Damn them for perverting it into a legal one as well.

    • Re:I disagree with the conclusions. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sl3xd ( 111641 ) * on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:39PM (#14467786) Journal
      Option C:) Apple has successfully eliminated the incentive to "steal" music by making it cheaper to buy iTunes tracks than to use alternative backchannels.

      Yeah, I remember an economics professor calling this the "opprotunity cost;' a fancy way of saying 'time is money.'

      I recall watching video of the keynote when Steve Jobs announced the iTMS -- and he made the identical comparison; that it's cheaper for the consumer to go get a (minimum wage) job, and buy the (correct, known-quality) songs from iTunes, than it is for them to hunt for the music on a filesharing service.

      I just hope that they bump up the bitrates of iTMS music sometime; not that it matters much in the situations I listen to my iPods (driving in my car, using an adapter that lets the iPod act as a cd changer), or on mid-grade headphones ($200 or so), I can't tell the difference anyway...

  • Is that the only conclusion? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jeffmeden ( 135043 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:35PM (#14467190) Homepage Journal
    "A survey of US and UK music buyers reveals that although 25 per cent of people admit to downloading music from file-sharing services, only seven per cent of iPod owners do so. Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."

    Another option is that Ipod owners are scrupulously DIShonest, making their numbers a lot lower. Come on, this is like a survey of inner city people who regularly J-walk. You have three categories, the ones that do and admit it, the ones that don't and are proud of it, and the ones that do but say they don't because they are too self conscious.

    • You have three categories, the ones that do and admit it, the ones that don't and are proud of it, and the ones that do but say they don't because they are too self conscious.

      There is a fourth category: the ones that do not J-walk but claim that they do. There was a recent current affairs show that had a story on children committing crimes in outback towns. This particular current affairs show is tabloid journalism at its worst and this story was no exception. The reporter asked a bunch of children on

  • Obvious explanation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jimmy_B ( 129296 ) <jim@jimrando m h . org> on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:36PM (#14467195) Homepage
    The iPod is closely associated with iTunes, which makes getting music legally more convenient than downloading. Also, iPod owners are likely to have more money to spend on music than owners of less expensive mp3 players.
  • "Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid"

    This simply proves the iPod has hit the mainstream. Many iPod users have one because they are "trendy", and don't have the computer knowledge required to find, download, and use pirated music.

  • Are you sure it isn't about price? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by khasim ( 1285 ) <brandioch.conner@gmail.com> on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:37PM (#14467207)
    Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players.
    Personally, I think it is just like we saw with the advent of cheap VHS tapes. When the moves were $100+, most people rented them and copied them. When the price dropped to $20, people buy them instead.

    Once you bring the price down to a certain point, the average person will pay for a legal copy.
  • It's like asking a large group of people if they're actively stealing cars. If they're stealing them, do you think they're going to identify themselves?
    • Except the results of the survey compared the percentage of iPod users who admitted to piracy (7%) to the percentage of other player users who admitted to piracy (20+%). This means one of two things. Either:

      a) iPod users are less likely to pirate music, or
      b) iPod users are less likely to admit to pirating music.

      A reasonable explanation for the former conclusion is that ITMS successfully meets the demand for music among iPod users, while other players are not tied to such effective and legitimate tools. I do

      • OR (Score:3, Funny)

        by TubeSteak ( 669689 )
        You seem to be forgetting that there's the possibility that iPod owners are going over to their friends and saying "load me up with your MP3 collection"

        I have to fight my friends off with pointy sticks because they keep asking me to drag my mid-tower over to their house so they can have at my MP3s.

  • My guess (Score:5, Funny)

    by Cro Magnon ( 467622 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:37PM (#14467212) Homepage Journal
    If you have an iPod, it's safer to get songs legally. If you play songs on a PC, it's safer to download questionable content from known criminals than it is to insert a legal Sony CD.
  • Although I do like to take my iPod with USB cord and walk into a computer store, plug into the display Macs, and get some free programs.

  • yet another data point (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Yahweh Doesn't Exist ( 906833 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:38PM (#14467221)
    I'm an ipod/itms user and don't have any illegal music.

    when I was younger I had lots of stuff I'd downloaded just because I could, but didn't even listen to most of it. so I got rid of all but my favourite downloaded songs. there weren't that many and from then on it just seemed easier to go to itms than the hassle of p2p (minimum share 5GB! banned for 1 hour! minimum 3 share slots! banned for 1 hour! ... fake files, wrong tags, crappy quality - even sometimes system sounds heard during playback).

    then the situation was either have illegal content for the sake of a handful of songs, or just replace them with legitimate versions for the sake of a couple of pints.

    itunes just makes being "honest" easier than not. appealing to laziness is far more successful than appealing to respect for disgusting organisations (RIAA) or appalling laws (DMCA).

  • not thieves? (Score:5, Funny)

    by revery ( 456516 ) <<ten.2cac> <ta> <selrahc>> on Friday January 13, 2006 @04:38PM (#14467224) Homepage
    iPod Owners Not Thieves

    Well then, maybe someone would like to explain to me why my iPod is engraved with the following:

    To my dearest Helen, I'm sorry I gave you the clap, Gerald

  • Flawed!! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by teknow ( 943205 )
    Researchers spoke to 1,000 people towards the end of last year. More details available from XTN Data here. XTN on their home page claims all research comes from web buyers. These people must know that their name is inevitably attached at some point to their data. 'Truthieness' is going to be at stake. We are unable to know if they are offered an incentive to give data or their propensity at openly lying as they know what the proper or inproper action might be.
  • I know hundreds of people with iPods and I am quite confident nearly every last one of them has at least one "stolen" song on their iPod. It would be my highly educated assumption that a survey of my sample group would show that 95% or more iPod users are in illegal possession of digital media.
  • people who pay for ipods have paid more more quality and simplicity. P2p programs offer neither of those. I dont see someone with a $300 mp2 player mucking around with edonkey2000 when he can just click buy and get the same thing for 99 cents in a second.
  • Arrrh matey shiver me timber and all that. I off course installed iTunes and looked at the store. It has nothing I like. My music tastes are not sated. Not because I have such elite tastes that the mainstream is not good enough for me. Just because I am in the wrong continent for my tastes.

    Or put another way my music tastes isn't so much out there as more "You listen to that crap?". Japanese idol music. Really old country western, old dutch music. None of wich iTunes sells.

    Napster was a dream come true, f

  • How many people would honestly say that they do bad things in a poll? I'm always wary of these kind of results. I have ONE ITMS purchased album and ONE ITMS purchased song plus maybe 20 songs I ripped from my own CDs. The other 1,590 tracks were downloaded or "bought" from Allofmp3.com/Mp3search.ru.

    PS: I own an iPod

    PPS: I don't care who knows, flame me for not buying music.

    • As I replied elsewhere in this discussion:

      The survey controls for this by comparing the number of iPod owners who admit to pirating song to the number of other player owners who also admit to pirating songs.

      Presumably, neither number is an accurate representation of the actual percentage of users who do pirate songs. The comparison between the numbers, however, is valid. It indicates either iPod users are less inclined to pirate, or that they are more inclined to lie about it.

      The former explanation is reaso
  • Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players.

    Or, more obviously, people who prefer iPod alternatives also prefer iTunes alternatives, the primary of which is p2p file sharing.

    Duh?
  • Maybe it's because they have more disposable income to spend on the iTunes music store?
  • If I'm using P2P it's to find stuff that's not on iTunes. I'm downloading more music now (legally) than I have in months/years.
  • I've used iTunes to burn my entire cd collection which roughly cost around $50k. So, while I occassionally get called a "thief", I am actually now a "copyright violator" since I gave away/sold/threw away said CDs. One of these days I will purchase music from ITMS, but for now I would rather by unhindered (or malware free) CDs and subsequently burn them. Ballmer was just posturing, and we know that both Windows and OS X will become more DRM "friendly" in the future. The sad part is that I will simply not pur
  • I think that's the right conclusion ;-)

  • Most likely because... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by PhotoBoy ( 684898 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:11PM (#14467526)
    ... the iPod is a fashion accessory to many these days and the type of people who buy gadgets because they are fashionable are the kind who just stick the iTunes CD into their PC and let it do it all for them. The idea that they could install eMule and seek out music for free won't have entered their heads. They'll be too busy deciding what fashionable accessory to get next (probably a PSP).
  • ...you can afford to buy music.

    Also, people who buy Apple assume they are getting the easiest possible thing, whatever it may be. These are the same people that don't want to learn something new which includes how to use a P2P program to get music... they already have a convenient way to buy stuff anyway.
  • Perhaps iPod owners actually download music from p2p networks *more*, and just lie about it when asked? No, I don't think it's likely either, but please, if you consider this survey proof of anything your standards are way too low.

  • Submitter Wears Bias Proudly (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:13PM (#14467553) Homepage
    Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players."

    Or that iPod users are dishonest and will lie about where they got their MP3s.

    Or that iPod users are lazy and tend towards the convenience of iTunes.

    Or that iPod users are technically incompetent and can't figure out P2P.

    Or that the statistical sampling and analysis was flawed.

    There are so many possible reasons. Why did the submitter need to state a false dichotomy?

    lesser music players

    Oh, now I see why.

  • NEWS FLASH! (Score:5, Funny)

    by CODiNE ( 27417 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:39PM (#14467788) Homepage
    BMW owners found less likely to siphon gas than Ford owners.

  • Yeah right. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DaveCBio ( 659840 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:50PM (#14467876)
    Anyone that trusts a survey where people disclose any illegal activity is a good candidate for buying swamp land. Surveys are dodgy at best and when they ask about questionable activities I'd say they are most likely worthless.

  • Survey had problems. (Score:3, Informative)

    by argent ( 18001 ) <(peter) (at) (slashdot.2006.taronga.com)> on Friday January 13, 2006 @05:59PM (#14467936) Homepage Journal
    I think I was invited to take part in it... at least I was invited to take part in a similar survey. I ran into a problem. On the very question of where my music comes from.

    I had the choices, if I recall correctly, of "downloading from a file sharing service", "purchasing from an online music service", "ripping my own CDs", or "copying from my friends". There might have been a couple more, but you could see the idea they had. But there wasn't any option for "downloaded from artist's own website" or "purchased directly from artist". And since a good 20-30% of my music falls into those categories, I stopped there and sent mail asking for clarification.

    No response. Survey form timed out. End of story.

  • bad survey - useless data (Score:5, Informative)

    by geekee ( 591277 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @06:25PM (#14468151)
    They surveyed people who bought music online, not a random sample of mp3 player owners. This doesn't take into account people who only copy music illegally.

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Some people manage by the book, even though they don't know who wrote the book or even what book.

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