Daily Bits

music downloads

Movies and E-books More Desirable Than MP3s

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You may not be involved in illegal downloading or file sharing anymore, but bits of useless information trivia always come in handy, don’t they?

According to Find That File, the file type that is downloaded the most today is AVI. This covers movies and other video files. Next in line are the PDF and RAR, which typically refer to e-books. The pie chart below shows downloading preferences of people with regard to the type of content.

The “winning” file types do not really come as a surprise. With high quality movies and videos available and people not having the time to go to the cinema or watch TV series as they are aired, downloading is a more convenient alternative. Note that I say convenient – in no way am I implying that it is ethical. (Then again, there are services which allow you to download or stream legally – we are walking a thin line here.)

The proliferation of e-book readers is also contributing to the popularity of e-book downloads. Add to that the fact that mobility is key to most people, having books in electronic format is really bound to make e-books more popular.

What about mp3s? Where did they go? For sure, people are still downloading music via shady means, but I think that the ease and price of legal downloads play a role here somehow. More so, we also know that albums and discographies can be downloaded in RAR or ZIP format. Since the survey only took the extensions in consideration, music can actually be part of the top downloaded file types.

Photo via gigaom

Android Phone And Music Piracy

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There is no denying that music piracy – or any sort of piracy, for that matter – is an illegal thing. However, we also cannot ignore the fact that there are still countless people all over the world who engage in this activity. For one reason or another, music piracy still exists.

Now, it seems that there is more potential for music piracy, as Android apps for music downloads are surfacing. We all know how cool Android phones are, and the fact that policies on third party apps are laxer makes these phones even better!

The news is that there are several apps that have come up – all of them with the idea of downloading music straight to the phone. Some examples are Music Junk, Music Wizard, Pandemonium, Tunee Music, MP3 Music, and Music Zilla. So what’s wrong with the rationale behind these apps? Well, it’s just that they were all made with the goal of bypassing music stores where you have to pay for the music that you download.

The thing about these apps is that users can only download one song at a time. This is unlike current peer sharing apps for computers, where you can download albums. Also, the Android apps do not really allow users to share their files. It’s more like downloading a single song from an anonymous location.

What does Google have to say about this? They do not monitor all third party apps, but if they do find out that a particular app violates certain rules, then it can be taken down. For now, I believe there are still music download apps that you can use on Android phones…