Your kid’s a Pirate.

I know, I know you thought they went as a cute fairy or a scary ghost this Halloween.   Well, I hate to break it to you but, you’re wrong, they went as a pirate. Actually if they are a “normal”  teen they’ve been pirates for quite some time.

Here’s the stats.

Globally 95% of all music downloads are illegal according to the IFPI study released at the beginning of  the year.  So according to the IFPI if you download music you are most likely doing it illegally.

But  don’t worry too much because your teens don’t think it is as bad as other forms of stealing. That should help ease the blow huh?

If your kids are like the teen in the recent Microsoft study “Only half of the teens surveyed (48%) indicated a punishment  was appropriate for illegal downloading, compared to 85% who say getting caught taking a mobile
phone out of someone‟s locker at school, 89% stealing a video game, DVD orCD and 90% stealing a bike.”

And it’s not just music.  iPhone/iTouch apps are pirated, Movies, TV shows, and software are all  downloaded illegally via Point to Point (P2P) programs.  Now not all P2P traffic is illegal but it definitely is a high percentage.

Take a look for any of these programs on your computer:Kazza, Limewire,  Bearshare, uTorrent, Azureus.

See a full popular torrent list here http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/peersharing/f/torrentclients.htm

Our advice:

So whether or not your teen dressed up like a pirate, knocked on peoples doors and demanded free music this Halloween weekend you still should open up the dialogue on this topic with them and give them some of the free and paid alternative below. Not only will you help them make better music downloading choices but you will also be helping them to minimize the risk of viruses, inappropriate content (vids, pics, etc.) and the Feds. knocking on your door.

Download responsibly.  Below are some great sites:

Pandora Radio– Free online radio
lala.com– free full song previews plus 10 cent web stored purchases
Spotify.com (currently only avaliable in the UK) free online music plus a premium paid subscription with additional features.
Good list of free music sites here http://mashable.com/2008/06/30/free-legal-music-sites/
Itunes–  Download for .99 – 1.39 cents.
Amazon– download for .69 cents

Last Links:

• More stats on iPhone app piracy–  http://www.pinchmedia.com/blog/piracy-in-the-app-store-from-360idev/
• Full .pdf of the IFPI’s report on Music Piracy– http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2009.pdf
• Microsofts report on teen views about illegal downloading–