LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy

LimeWire might not have been the downloading program of choice for elite users like those of you reading Download Squad right now, but there's no denying its popularity with the average user. So when the Gnutella-powered LimeWire was shut down once and for all, there was little doubt that the impact on music piracy would be significant.

As TorrentFreak reports, the number of users utilizing P2P applications in the U.S. has nosedived -- to a level 43% lower than this time last year. Based on previous numbers, that works out to about 12 million fewer downloaders. The findings are based on a survey conducted by NPD.

What's particularly interesting is that while there are still plenty of LimeWire alternatives, it looks like most users have simply given up on music downloading -- or at least that's what they're telling survey reps on the telephone...

Tags: apps, copyright, download, downloading, file sharing, FileSharing, limewire, mp3, music, p2p, peer to peer, PeerToPeer, piracy, riaa, shutdown, takedown

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