UK yoof tunes in to the Interweb

OVER HALF OF Blighty's youth pay at least a fiver a month for music downloads, according to finance detectives Q Research.

Q Research today published a survey about how many quids exactly young'n's in the UK pay each month to download MP3s onto their PCs or MP3 players. The test focused on the 11-25 year old age bracket, says the outfit. According to the findings, the majority of the surveyed yoof listen to their music either on MP3 players or PCs - 85 per cent of the subjects already owned an MP3 player with, surprise surprise, the iPod being the most popular choice.

The survey shows that 45per cent of those interrogated pay nothing for their music, however, a third of those asked spend up to five quid a month. Three per cent, presumably the morally sound or the wallet-heavy, spend a whopping 25 quid or more each month.

Apparently the biggest pirates asked were the youngest, with about half of the little 'uns using p2p or what have you to get their child-sized mittens on free musicks. 43per cent of under 16s are paying up to a tenner a month, however, with nine per cent of under 16s dishing out as much as a tenner to 25 quid each month. The biggest spenders, however, are the 20-24 year olds - two thirds of whom spend up to a tenner a month on downloadable music.

The survey does not take into account the sad 30-something office funnymen who spend at least £3.50 a week on Jamster's latest Crazy Frog remixes. µ