13 MIL IN U.S. DOWNLOAD FOR FREE, SURVEY SAYS

An estimated 13 million Americans have downloaded music for free, the Pew Internet Project reported Thursday from the results of a survey.

Fewer than 2 million people have paid to download music files, according to the Associated Press.

"Millions of Americans have joined the online music revolution in recent months because it's simple, it's free and so far, nobody's stopping them," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, which researches the Internet's effect on society with funding by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Freeloading is "a huge threat to the music industry now and it is a harbinger of the trouble the Internet will pose to other entertainment forms like the movies," said Rainie.

Pew's findings are disturbing and "of no surprise," said Amy Weiss, spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America.

Pew's survey of 2,503 adults—including 1,345 Internet users—was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates on the telephone in April.

In related news, Pew's other survey, conducted simultaneously, said nearly 10 users were wondering what's up with the sheep on hitsdailydouble.com's Web site.