iPod Owners Not Thieves

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."

Comments

"Lesser music players..." -- ???

[eldavojohn]

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 is some competition to consider before making that bold statement.

I disagree with the conclusions.

[XorNand]

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.