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LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy
LimeWire might not have been the downloading program of choice for elite users like those of you reading Download Squad right now, but there's no denying its popularity with the average user. So when the Gnutella-powered LimeWire was shut down once and for all, there was little doubt that the impact on music piracy would be significant.As TorrentFreak reports, the number of users utilizing P2P applications in the U.S. has nosedived -- to a level 43% lower than this time last year. Based on previous numbers, that works out to about 12 million fewer downloaders. The findings are based on a survey conducted by NPD.
What's particularly interesting is that while there are still plenty of LimeWire alternatives, it looks like most users have simply given up on music downloading -- or at least that's what they're telling survey reps on the telephone...
Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsjohncMar 24th 2011 12:42PM
So.. has there been a resulting increase in music sales?
AyrtonMar 24th 2011 1:53PM
No. People started downloading from China and Chinese client programs.
jerrodMar 24th 2011 2:08PM
@Ayrton the need to download music is being eliminated by things like pandora and groovshark. They allow users to play the music they want to hear! anywhere anytime for free!
JustinMar 24th 2011 3:02PM
people still use Gnutella networks and not torrents or download communities? I would say if btjunkie and TPB go down it would impact piracy a lot more than Limewire...
DerrickMar 25th 2011 9:49AM
I think it's probably got a bit of bias in the survey. If they're surveying people by phone I wonder how many of those people are in a demographic that still has landlines. I'm trying to make an assumption that people that have landlines don't know about bit torrent and just went for something easy. When it dried up they didn't know where to turn, cuz they're n00bs. :)
VAVA Mk 2Mar 28th 2011 3:53PM
Frostwire still apparently works (haven't used it in some time as full albums via Torrents is better) but they are far from stopping anything.
notjustMar 29th 2011 6:53AM
WIN! I've always been a strong protester against users of LimeWire and other pirate-friendly software. Very happy to know that it has had such a strong impact on the music industry. Now to stop the rest of it....