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Napster's numbers are shrinking. The average number of files being shared on the MP3-swapping service has dropped 90 percent in the last three months, according to a new study by research firm Webnoize.

While the average Napster user had been offering 220 files in February 2001, as of May, Napsterites had only 21 shareable files on their PCs, Webnoize finds. The drastic fall-off in shared files can be blamed on the filters Napster was forced to install after Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered the company to block copyrighted music, Webnoize says.

Along with the huge drop in available files, the total number of files downloaded also declined precipitously, according to the study's findings. The total number of files downloaded in May was only 360 million, down from 2.79 billion in February, an 87 percent decrease. Napster usage, in terms of actual simultaneous users, also dropped by 47 percent in May, to 840,000 from February's 1.57 million.

The report appears the day after Napster signed a licensing deal with MusicNet. Napster says it plans to launch a secure, copyright-friendly, subscription-based service this summer, which will use music licensed from MusicNet, the digital download company formed by BMG Entertainment, AOL Time Warner, EMI Group, and RealNetworks.

The findings by Webnoize may cast some doubt on the viability of these plans, however, as 78 percent of almost 3,000 users surveyed said they would use illicit means to obtain copyrighted MP3s in the future, with only 21 percent saying they would opt for licensed means.

Leading the pack of illicit ways of getting music were other file sharing programs such as Gnutella, followed by file transfer protocol and Web sites and, lastly, e-mail and Internet relay chat.

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