I came across a poll we conducted for Mac360 back in the summer of 2004. The questions were basic. How many songs are on your iPod? And, are they legal or illegal? Over 3,600 respondents later and the results continue to be the same.
How many songs?
Times change. Music changes. I used to buy CDs. Today I have all my CDs on my iPod via iTunes on my Mac. Officially, I have more songs purchased from the iTunes Store than purchased via CD.
Since the iPod is a mature product it’s likely that the number of songs stored on the device continues to grow. That’s been my experience.
The original poll results, back in 2004, showed that most iPod users had only a few hundred songs or less on the then somewhat new iPod. Today, over half of the poll respondents have over 2,000 songs; a ten fold increase.
Almost 75-percent have over 1,000 songs. So, the iPod has become the storage media of the 21st century for music collectors.
Legal? Or, Illegal?
The record companies have a love hate relationship with Apple. They love the money Apple gives them for music sales on the iTunes Store, which commands about 70-percent of all internet purchased downloads.
They hate Apple because they’ve become the Walmart of online music, exercising control they and their retailers once had. They also hate the iPod because users are able to share CDs, copy the music to their iPods, thus saving money, and not purchasing from the record companies.
They also hate Apple because of illegal music downloads, some of which are stored on iPods. Peer-to-peer file sharing has not gone away, despite the removal of copy protection of online music purchases.
The second question in the poll is, “Are they legal or illegal song?” The results, though larger in number, have changed little through the years. Over 60-percent are mostly legal purchases.
Only 10-percent of all respondents said all the songs on their iPods are illegal. 15-percent said half and half, legal vs. illegal. Still, that leaves nearly 30-percent of music on iPods which are illegal.
We’re deep into 2009 and the iPod is more popular than ever. Apple has competition from other online music stores, including Amazon, which sells songs for a lower price; both stores selling music without copy protection.
Take a look at the songs in your iPod or in iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC. What percentage is legal? What percentage is illegal? Then, click here to take the poll again.