Monday November 5, 2001
LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) - Users swapped 1.81 billion media files on
Napster (news - web sites)-alternative services like Kazaa,
MusicCity and Grokster, which have seen usage rise since Napster
shut down in July to legal pressures, a research firm said Monday.
Web research firm Webnoize said these services' October levels
represented a 20 percent increase from the 1.51 billion files
downloaded during September.
All three applications use software licensed from FastTrack, an
Amsterdam-based peer-to-peer technology company, and share the
same network.
``The growth of the FastTrack network continues to be astounding,''
said Webnoize analyst Matt Bailey. ``During the last four months the
number of users typically logged on has risen by 480 percent, and in
November will likely surpass the 1.57 million simultaneous users that
Napster, the popular song-swapping service, enjoyed at its peak.''
During October, 1.3 million users were typically logged on to the
combined network at any one time, compared to 1 million simultaneous
users in September.
Some of these alternatives also allow users to swap movies in
addition to songs, which has made the film industry nervous.
On October 3, 28 music and movie companies sued MusicCity, Grokster
and FastTrack, which also maintains and develops the Kazaa
application. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of ''massive''
copyright infringement.
Webnoize predicts the suit will further boost consumer awareness
of the FastTrack system. ``As higher awareness translates into higher
usage, the FastTrack network may ultimately become many times larger
than Napster ever was,'' Bailey said.
A recent survey by Internet research firm Jupiter Media Metrix,
however, found the downing of Napster had actually curbed
song-swapping in Europe.
According to the report, Jupiter said the level of Internet
file-sharing activity has dropped by 50 percent in Europe since
February, the point at which Napster hit its peak.
The decline in Europe coincides with an upswing in the United States
during the same period, the company said.
In February, 8.1 million European Internet users were accessing a
dozen separate file-sharing sites, with the overwhelming majority
accessing Napster. In August, the number dropped to 4.6 million
users across 19 sites.
Last month, Jupiter reported that, unlike Europe, file-sharing
activity had jumped by 500 percent between March and August thanks
to the popularity of Napster alternatives.
Sharing on Napster-alternatives rose in October - Webnoize