Consumers are still downloading more songs through Napster according to recent research findings.
Although many pundits expect users to abandon Napster now that it is blocking the transfer of thousands of titles, consumers are still downloading more songs through Napster according to recent research findings by Webnoize. The number of downloads using the Napster system rose to a total of 593 million songs during the last week of March, 25 percent more than the 473 million files downloaded during the previous week. According to Napster, more than 275,000 tracks were being blocked from the company’s file sharing system by month’s end.
“Users are taking the file-blocking filter in their stride,” said Webnoize Analyst Matt Bailey. “Millions of consumers continue to use Napster to access huge amounts of free music.”
While Napster usage is now rebounding, the total number of songs downloaded over the month was lower than in February. Webnoize estimates that a total of 2.49 billion songs were traded using the Napster system in March, down from 2.79 billion the prior month. The average number of files shared per user also dropped sharply, falling from 220 on March 1 to 73 by the end of month.
