Many people are downloading media illegally because there is no unrestricted media downloading service with a fair monthly fee to solve the issue, it has been stated.

Ernesto, the founder and editor of TorrentFreak.com, said that unlimited access is what the average user demands as standard and this necessity has not been fulfilled by anyone in the industry.

He explained that a number of copyright infringers have been dragged through the courts but most of the time the trials have been based on "shoddy evidence" with cases often being highly disputed.

Concluding his view, Ernesto added: "The average consumer buys three to four CDs a year right now so if they charge £7 a month for the service they would be making more money than they do now while finally satisfying the consumer."

It follows the announcement from Virgin Media and Universal that a new service will enable any Virgin Media broadband customer to stream and download as many music tracks and albums as they would like from the entire Universal Music's catalogue in return for monthly subscription fee.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).