On March 23rd, the Pew Internet & American Life organization released a study that suggested a shift in the way Americans share music. It was a news item that quickly circulated throughout the Internet, as it was reported on by most minor and major outlets. Nearly every outlet that reported on this study had a different interpretation of its contents.

From examining the results of Pew Internet's study, it is impossible to conclusively dictate whether P2P networking was either thriving or declining. Pew Internet did conclude however, that more individuals were using alternative sources to obtain music files. These methods include email, instant messaging, or simply by downloading from a friend's MP3 player.

The inconclusive nature of Pew Internet's study left the survey wide open to become propaganda cannon fodder. One key finding, or perhaps the lack of one, helped fuel a wide range of media headlines:

Pew Internet stated "Current file downloaders are now more likely to say they use online music services like iTunes than they are to report using p2p services..." However, in the same report Pew counters with "respondents may now be less likely to report peer-to-peer usage due to the stigma associated with the networks."

So is file-sharing on the decline? To contradict a study by throwing in such an enormous variable brings too in many questions to be trusted as definitive.

Never-the-less, the report left media outlets free to pick and choose which facts to work with, leaving one's imagination to run wild with headline ideas. From one perspective, one can conclude that file-sharing is on the decline and perhaps run with a headline such as "File-sharing Networks Dying Out."

The muddled conclusions of Pew Internet’s survey give little foundation to proclaim a State of the P2P Union. Despite this, a wide range of creative headlines managed to exist based on this questionable data. Below is a list of some of the more imaginative headlines:

Music pirates shun peer-to-peer for iPod-to-iPod (Silicon.com)
Fewer file sharers using P2P systems (MSNBC)
P2P usage on the decline (ITVibe.com)
Study: Fewer using peer-to-peer systems (BusinessWeek)
Music Swapping Moving Away from P2P (TechNewsWorld)
Study: Use of Peer-To-Peer Systems Dropping (Data Storage Today)

This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
File-Sharing/P2P Related :: Statistics/Analysis

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