File sharing journey of the participants

Today, file sharing activity is wide-spread with younger and the elderly engaging themselves in it. Regardless of the technical knowledge many are making use of the file sharing activity. This is a detailed review on the file sharing journey of the participants. It deals how the participants were introduced to the technology, their learning process, the used application and sites and the type of contents they shared.

Initiation
Participants with strong technical knowledge is said to have been introduced to the technologies at a very younger age, while the less tech savvy have known about the technology later. Children and younger people aged below 18 are exposed to the file sharing activity at a very young age. Most of the children admitted that they began file sharing at age 11. Some believed that their younger siblings are introduced to the activity before age of 11. Increased adoption of MP3 players, mobile phones and internet has transformed the lives of younger people. They are using these gadgets to socialize and stay in touch with friends. They enjoy sharing music online the most.

Tech-savvy participants admit that their file sharing behaviour has changed with the advancement in technology. Tech Savvy, below age 30 said that file sharing was introduced to them before their mid-teenage years. On the other hand, the older tech savvy said they were introduced to the technology in different ages.

Learning
Younger children became aware of the file sharing activities in school and from friends. Some of the children said that they learned about file sharing from their parents. There were cases where less-tech savvy parents were taught about the activity by their children. Their children installed the necessary applications for file sharing and game them the instructions. The elderly participants came to know about file sharing from a friend or a family member. Some children heard about the file sharing activity and that encouraged them to find more about it.

File sharing sites and applications
Zshare, Bittorent, Utorrent, 4Shared, LimeRunner, Sendspace, Rapidshare, Usendit, Bearshare, UsenetxTorrent are the different applications and sites that offers unauthorized access to contents. These sites and applications varied from each other. Factors like technical knowledge, appetite for the content type and the experiences of file sharing determined the selection of the application and sites. P2P file sharing site were used by the majority of the less tech savvy and the tech savvy participants. LimeWire is the widely used and accepted website by most of the participants. Simplicity and downloading ease have prompted them to use this application. People searched for alternative sites and applications when LimeWire.Com was closed down in October 2010.

Younger children switched to YouTube converters from P2P sites. YouTube converters have given children the freedom to convert music into different formats to be used in their music players, mobile phones and iPods. Conversion technology offered protection from viruses, unlike the file sharing sites. Less tech-savvy customers used the site or application they were familiar with. They were worried about technical glitches, complications and viruses that new applications might bring.

Choice of file sharing sites and applications in Tech savvy older participants were relatively more. When they were first introducing to file sharing, most of them used Napster and Kazaa. Since, they were introduced to the file sharing activity at a younger age, they knew about the alternative applications and sites. Their high technical expertise has enabled them to make better decision while switching to other applications and sites. Before they used a site or application, they would do a good research about the service. LimeWire, FrostWire or LimeRunner was not a choice for the tech-savvy users instead they used P2P sites like PirateBay and Demonoid. Cyberlockers like Rapidshare and
MegaUpload, and Newsgroups like Usenet were used by tech-savvy participants. Wide availability of free contents has prevented them from services with paid subscriptions.

Content
Music, TV series, films, games and software are the different types of unauthorised file sharing contents. Participants used services to share different types of contents. With age, the type of content varied. In the case of young people and children, music singles were their favourite and most popular content type. Downloading latest releases before anyone does have become very popular among the children. Most of them downloaded small files, rather than TV programs and films. Lack of patience and the insufficient knowledge to download files quickly has encouraged children and younger people to download music singles. Older teenagers were into downloading music albums.

Older participants downloaded variety of contents when compared to younger children. Films and TV programs are one of the favourite contents. Content type depended greatly on the individual taste and preference. Contents like Opera music, 1970s horror films, Period dramas, Audiobook and Afro-Caribbean reggae music were their favourite contents. File sharing journey of the participants varied with age and with their technical expertise.