According to a new report from the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), about 3 million Swedes download unauthorized music, games and movies, about one third of the entire Swedish population.
Some believe the numbers are actually skewed, however, to the low side.
“I have about 250 students per year of whom hardly any have not file shared,” says Kristoffer Schollin, a scientist with a doctorate in intellectual property law. “It’s at 100 percent.”
Internet speeds in Sweden are ranked third highest in the world, on average, at about 12.8 Mbps. The US averages around 5.1 Mbps.
Despite the seemingly high number, the IFPI says the numbers are in a downtrend, following government intervention.
“Six out of 10 (users of file sharing sites) have stopped completely, or at least significantly lowered their use of illegal file sharing after the new legislation,”IFPI Sweden chairman Ludvig Werner added.
The report was based on a study of “music consumption habits” of 1,006 Swedes aged 15 to 74.
Result for: internet speeds
Although the format has been technically dead for over a month, HD DVD is now officially dead, as the HD DVD Promotion Group has formally dissolved itself, marking a quiet end to the High Definition format.
After Toshiba’s decision last month to abandon the format, other big players involved have all pulled out as well, including Microsoft, Universal Studios, Paramount Studios and more recently, Best Buy.
The Promotion group, the organization in charge of persuading the world to adopt HD DVD, has now voted to disband, leaving HD DVD and its branding to the DVD Forum.
The question still remains however if the world will go Blu or move to flash memory and HD downloads as internet speeds get faster and flash capacities get larger.
