I would like to get more recent statistics (2002) that indicates the
rise in the popularity of p2p systems like the number of downloads,
etc. I was able to get the following information earlier and I would
like to update them. If anybody has a pointer to where I can find such
information, I would appreciate it.

#. According to Webnoize, the top four file-sharing systems--
FastTrack, Audiogalaxy, iMesh, and Gnutella-- were used to download
3.05 billion files during August, 2001.  It also predicts that the
FastTrack file-trading network should pass Napster in terms of volume
and use by the time this article is published.

FastTrack, an Amsterdam-based file-trading network, has boasted
traffic growth of 60% a month over the last year or so. At the time of
this article’s publication, it is expected to have surpassed the 1.57
million simultaneous users that Napster enjoyed at its peak.

thanks.

KaZaA Media Desktop is far and away receiving more downloads than any
other file sharing program for last week.  Morpheus is a far seceond
trailed by iMesh and Bearshare.

Here is Download.com's search page listing the most downloads for last
week.  You can messs with this page and get lots of other interesting
facts such as total downloads, etc..
http://download.com.com/3150-2166-0-1-5.html?

If you visit Download.com's ( http://www.download.com ) home page, you
can find details on the "most talked about" downloads.  The Blubster
file sharing program is the leading program in the "most talked about"
category.

I would also recommend searching News.com ( http://www.news.com ) for
the names of all of these file sharing programs.  It return news
articles with more statistics and facts such as this article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-854085.html

Thanks for the question and if you require more information regarding
my answer, don't hesitate to ask for clarification.  And if you find
this answer satisfactory, please feel free to rate it. Thank you!
             
xemion-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by jintae-ga on 23 Jun 2002 14:45 PDT

Thanks for the pointers but all the ones I looked at talk about the
number of downloads for the p2p applications themselves rather than
the number of files downloaded using them, which is the information I
want to update. Would you have pointers to this latter inf.?  thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by xemion-ga on 23 Jun 2002 15:18 PDT

I will look for some data of that nature, however, I'm about to leave
on a trip for a week and I doubt I will be able to research it before
then (though I will try).  I would ask that you wait a week so I can
fully research the question if I don't have it done by noon Monday
(est), but if you need this data urgently, please feel free to repost
this question after noon tomorrow.  Thank you.

xemion-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by jintae-ga on 27 Jun 2002 08:46 PDT

I can wait for further research until you come back from your trip,
but by then the question would have been closed. Do you know how we
can deal with the situation?

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Clarification of Answer by xemion-ga on 30 Jun 2002 22:51 PDT

I've done some extensive research for the information you requested. 
The problem, as you noted, is that this information is hard to find or
not available at all.  Research companies such as Webnoize (
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-276487.html ) and Clip2 (
http://www.clip2.com ) have suspended operations.
I still believe that the best indicators of the “popularity” of a
file-sharing program are the Download.com statistics.  These are the
most accurate and most widespread statistics available.   There are
not any good statistics available for the number of mp3 downloads per
program.   However, the next best statistic is one you mentioned
previously and that is "users".

Redshift Research ( http://www.redshiftresearch.com ) is the current
leading research company on P2P services according to the searches I
have conducted.  A former Webnoize employee founded the company in
early 2002.  Here are some current statistics from Redshift press
releases:

"The Kazaa network, owned by Australia-based Sharman Networks, had an
average of 1.4 million users typically logged on to the system during
April. This is a rise of 69% from February, when 830,000 users were
normally using the network.
While Kazaa has risen, the Morpheus system – once the world’s largest
P2P network – has been in decline. In early March, Morpheus launched
new software based on the Gnutella file-sharing protocol. In February,
prior to the switch, Morpheus had an average of 1.08 million users. By
April, the Gnutella network – including Morpheus along with other
Gnutella-based systems like Limewire and Bearshare – typically had
only 280,000 users. "
http://www.redshiftresearch.com/pressrelease3.asp - May 1, 2002 

"On average, 353,000 users were logged on to the Gnutella network
during the weekend of March 2-3, up 288% from an average of 91,000 on
Friday, March 1. The jump in usage followed the launch of a Morpheus
Preview Edition gnutella-based client late on Friday. This move is a
further boost for the Gnutella network, which had already seen growth
from an average of only 19,000 simultaneous users in December"
http://www.redshiftresearch.com/pressrelease1.asp - March 4, 2002

You can see the trends just by comparing these two articles these two
articles.  Redshift has a research paper out that would answer many of
your questions; unfortunately, the cost of this paper is $595.  You
can view more information on the paper at
http://www.redshiftresearch.com/research2.asp.  I also suggest
visiting Redshift's homepage at http://www.redshiftresearch.com.

Another excellent website is Slyck.com ( http://www.slyck.com ). 
Their website has the current statistics for all the top P2P services
(look at the right hand side of the website).  As you can see,
Redshift's statistics are already outdated.  This is because Redshift
provides more in-depth information into their statistics and the
trends behind them.

Slyck.com, however, does not provide information on where they obtain
this statistics.  This highlights the biggest problem in your search
for information, reliability.  Anybody can throw numbers on a page and
call them facts.  That said Slyck.com's statistics appear to by viewed
as reliable from my searches.  They match the current trends of the
market.  You can monitor the trends simply by viewing the news
articles on Slyck.com’s site.  Their statistics also match up with
Download.com' s statistics.

Here are some other surveys, polls and statistics that you may or may
not find of interest:

CNET.com's Buzz Meter (based on search data from February 26 to March
4):
http://www.cnet.com/techtrends/0-6014-8-8998884-1.html?txt

Usability and privacy - a study of Kazaa P2P file-sharing:
http://www.hpl.hp.com/shl/papers/kazaa/KazaaUsability.pdf

Making money on free music (interesting, but used old statistics):
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applications/article/0,,1301_1365161,00.html

My search strategy included the below terms as well as many variations
of these terms:
Gnutella kazaa morpheus downloads
Webnoize cnet
mp3 download statistics p2p

I hope these links and information are of use to you.  The links
provided in the comment section are also interesting and I suggest
checking them out as well.  Thanks for waiting on me to return from my
trip!

xemion-ga

Thanks very much for the extensive research you did for me.

While these stats do not directly answer your question, there are some
good statistics on file sharing in general available at:
[ http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applications/article/0,,1301_1365161,00.html
]

I doubt it if you'll find something comprehensive and valuable from
2002, since this kind of statistical data is usually collected,
alalysed and released on a later basis. I suppose, though, you'll find
great interest in this:
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/students/bandwidth/charts.html

2 x 155mb?  WOW :)
In Argentina, the public university (free, as  in 'freebeer')  has 2mb :)