Just two years ago the music industry would have welcomed a report warning employers that their employees are draining their computer networks by downloading music files from work computers. However, now that there is all likelihood that a decent proportion of these downloads are coming from legitimate sources like iTunes and Napster, it will be interesting to see how the record labels respond.
Either way, a new survey in Australia reckons employees using their work computer systems to download music and video is costing businesses there in excess of $60 million a year. The survey, compiled by Melbourne-based Exinda Networks and based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, reaches that figure based on the increased cost of network capacity they reckon companies have to cover because existing networks are drained by employees downloading rich media files. The figure does not include the cost of loss in productivity - ie what should the employee be doing when they are, instead, downloading music?
Commenting on the report, Exinda Networks director Con Nikolouzakis warned employers: "Beware of the employee who comes to work with an MP3 player. They can store up to 40 gigabytes of music, movies and programs and kill your network performance."
Of course Exinda are not unbiased in this area - they sell systems that help employers stop their workforce from abusing their internet connections. But nevertheless, such research is bound to get employers worried as music downloading becomes more popular and companies' computer systems start to slow down.