Forget iTunes, more songs are downloaded from peer-to-peer networks:
In 2006, the number of households with PCs that downloaded at least one song using free peer-to-peer software, like Limewire or BitTorrent, grew a modest 7.2 percent, reaching 14.9 million, according to figures released by the NPD Group, a market-research firm.
Meanwhile, the number of PC households that used royalty-paying services like iTunes Store shot up 65.8 percent to 12.6 million, meaning such services could soon become the most widely used method of downloading music.
But the average peer-to-peer household still downloads far more songs. Peer-to-peer networks yielded five billion downloads in 2006, whereas 509 million songs were downloaded from iTunes-style services.
Obviously, the fact that it’s free must help.
