PC ADVISOR
FOR MOBILE

The magazine

Poll

When did you get your first home computer?:

View poll results

Have your say in the
PC Advisor forums!

News

News spotlights:

News by company:

News by product:

Windows XP | Windows Vista | Windows 7 | Apple iPhone | BlackBerry

Back to Broadband Advisor

November 6, 2009

66% of Brits claim Spotify stops them illegally downloading

Men worse than women when it comes to illegal file-sharing

Carrie-Ann Skinner

Nearly two third of Brits that illegally download music online said Swedish music streaming service Spotify has encouraged them to reduce their illegal file-sharing activities, says Moneysupermarket.com.

Research by the comparison site revealed that 12 percent of Brits have illegally downloaded files online in the past month, while men prove to be bigger offenders than women with 16 percent of men illegally downloading compared to just nine percent of women.

Moneysupermarket.com also said that that younger generations were more likely to offen with just under a third of under 20s claiming to illegally file-share.

James Parker, broadband manager at moneysupermarket.com, said: "With Spotify joining the ranks of legal music sites, illegal downloading seems set to become much less popular".

"Streaming music for free or for a reasonable fee while on the move could spell the end for illegal downloading and could even send the CD the way of the mini-disc and cassette tape."

Spotify allows users to create a playlist of songs they want to hear from its catalogue. They can also create 'collaborative' playlists, which are assigned their own web addresses, and can then be added to by other Spotify listeners.

The tracks are broadcast in a style similar to commercial radio, in that they are peppered with adverts.

However, for 99p, Spotify users can purchase a whole day of ad-free listening, or alternatively pay a £10 monthly subscription and never hear an advert again.

Broadband speed test

PC security advice

<<newer story | back to index | older story>>