iPod users don't steal music...

A perhaps surprising 33 per cent of iPod users claim their music player is free from any illegally downloaded tracks and the majority have poured cold water on Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's suggestion that 'stolen' is the most common format of music on an iPod.

In total only 32 per cent of respondents, in no way a majority, admitted more than half of the music on their player is 'stolen', with 17 per cent claiming all the files on their iPod have been obtained without due attention to issues of copyright.

The third of respondents who favour honest ownership are joined by 12 per cent of respondents who admit 'one or two tracks, but no more' are illegally procured, while 11 per cent admitted that figure may be as much as a quarter of all the files on their iPod.

While the findings will doubtless prove cause for concern for the BPI and the RIAA, they would appear to suggest there are better places to start the copyright witch-hunt than among the iPod using community.

The reason for this is likely in part down to the popularity of the legal iTunes service which synchs with its iPod companion product.

silicon.com reader, and proud iPod owner Tim Liszt, from Oregon, USA, said: "The music on my iPod - all 3,876 tracks - is either music purchased from Apple's great music store or from my existing collection of CDs."

If anything, the popularity of iTunes is driving sales of legal music.

"I have spent more money on legal music since owning my iPod," said Liszt.