• Ars Technica, Friday, December 29, 2006 11:01 AM

Surprise, surprise: a recent study from NPD Group, a research firm covering the music industry, claims that movie downloads using peer-to-peer software and servers is outpacing purchases made from legitimate download services, such as CinemaNow or Apple's iTunes.

The study, compiled from NPD's VideoWatch tracking software, finds that just 2% of online households purchase movies from movie download services, whereas 8% utilize illegal P2P services.

For the consumer, there are several compelling reasons to steal content rather than pay for it. First is the cost. Second, the movie download biz fails to offer a single, comprehensive location from which to download movies. Instead, there are several fractious and competing services all struggling to reach agreements with movie producers.

Digital Rights Management, which prohibits copyright downloads from easily being transferred from one device to another, is both limiting and annoying. Also, seasoned P2P users can easily find higher quality downloads than those being offered by services--and for free. Which is why people steal in the first place. The only solution--to us--is advertising.

Read the whole story at Ars Technica »