Napster down but not out

The music industry seems to be winning its battle to kill off the active file sharing technology, according to figures released by Jupiter MMXI.

The figures show that the amount of active file sharing on the internet has fallen by almost half since legal proceedings were brought against Napster.

Music industry moguls feared that internet copies of their recordings would kill off sales and have had a year-long legal battle to shut down Napster, which was the leader in piloting the the technology.

But the author of the report, Jupiter MMXI analyst Mark Mulligan, said the figures also showed that Napster was down but not out and remained the most popular form of the technology used across the net.

"Although the popular music file swapping service has been operating a restricted service since July of this year, Napster remains the most popular music destination in Europe. This demonstrates the strength of the Napster brand and the demand for the return of such a comprehensive service," Mulligan said.

Over four and a half million people across Europe regularly swap files across the internet, and Jupiter MMXI's internet audience research shows that a host of Napster clones have appeared to fill the void left by the original.

However, none have proven to be as successful, Mulligan added.