“A new NPD Group report…estimates up to 70% of U.S. kids aged 9 - 14 download music in a given month. Almost half, or 49% use iTunes, while another 26% use Limewire. MySpace was listed as the third most popular site for sharing music, at 16%.” Who lets their 9-year-old use credit card-driven iTunes? And who in the hell still uses Limewire? Also no mention whatsoever of BitTorrent sites or MP3/full album blogs. Just a different (illegal) downloading world than the one inhabited by tweens? Or an oversight in the group’s research? [Billboard]
-
-
Editor:
Maura Johnston | E-mail
Idolator plays in WFNX's Sandbox every Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET
F2K: The Worst Songs Of The '00s
@Janelleyo: Probably Soulja Boy. We can only hope they figure out what supermanning a ho entails in time for it to become a hilarious scandal like the Megan Mier thing.
I think you can get “accounts” for kids on iTunes. Of course, if the parents are just telling the nine-year-old to go crazy with their Gold Card, they’re just asking for creditor calls.
Here in Canada, Mastercard teamed up with MuchMusic to give kids a credit card they could use. However there is no actual credit. Parents load the card with money that the kids can spend. So they can still use the services but without accruing debt or risking security fraud.
I thought it was a neat idea in this age where you can buy music online. Kind of like the allowance I had as a kid that I would spend on tapes. Sometimes it’s difficult for old fogeys like us to accept that a new piece of technology has become commonplace enough for children to be a part of.
That being said having unlimited resources online to buy music or a cell phone without restrictions makes you a spoiled brat. But those same kids had second phone lines and daddy’s money when we were kids.
Same shit, different name.
I want to know what they are buying. Are these 9 year olds lurking music blogs and purchasing Wilco?
iTunes has been pushing the idea of “allowances” (or whatever they call them) for kids for years. I think parents can even set up a recurring bill for 10 credits (or whatever) per month. Apple figured out long ago that they needed a strategy for selling tunes to kids who don’t have credit cards, and they worked out some pretty good ideas.