File-Sharing Services Dip in Traffic (MP3 news)

[goodisonpark]

LOS ANGELES — Use of several Internet file-sharing services declined the week after the music industry threatened to sue online music swappers, an Internet tracking firm said Monday.



Kazaa (search) and Morpheus (search) -- two popular file-swapping services -- had 15 percent fewer users during the week ending July 6, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. The firm tracks weekly use by people who sign on to the services from home.



The decline translates to about 1 million fewer users on Kazaa. About 41,000 fewer users signed on to Morpheus and the iMesh (search) file-sharing service that week.



"With the negative publicity and threat of steep fines, some surfers appear to be backing off," said Greg Bloom, a senior Internet analyst with the firm. "However, with millions of loyal users, these applications aren't likely to go off-line in the near future."



StreamCast Networks, the company behind the Morpheus software, said it had not detected any decline in user traffic.



"What we're seeing is that users are actually staying on the Morpheus client longer per session," said StreamCast CEO Michael Weiss. "We can pretty much tell usage by our bandwidth, and our bandwidth has been pretty constant."



Sharman Networks, which owns Kazaa, said fluctuations in user numbers is common.



The Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major recording companies, said last month it would soon begin suing individuals engaging in online music file-swapping.



The industry blames music downloading and CD burning for lagging sales in recent years and hopes that by going after users directly, it can curb traffic to the sites.

The world is your oyster but the future's a clam

[bbchris]

Quote:

---

had 15 percent fewer users during the week ending July 6,

---

I guess this had nothing to do with the start of summer and the big July 4th holiday.......

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup |

[goodisonpark]

Well think about it .... holidays for teenages .. they come home pissed as a fart in a bottle, feeling something in the loins stirring, then go downloading porn and music so they can play Willie and the Hand Jive

The world is your oyster but the future's a clam