We already know that the piracy of music is a pretty big phenomenon, but have you ever wondered just how much music is being downloaded illegally? According to a recent study by British Music Rights, it seems that the average iPod (or digital music player) owner between the ages of 14 and 24 is quite the pirate. In fact, nearly half of all music stored on their iPods is reported as stolen.

More specifically, the survey revealed that this demographic has an average of 1,770 tracks on their digital music player, of which 842 are reported as stolen. That works out to 48%, or just shy of half of the total music library. Going further, half of the group questioned said that they were happy to share their music through BitTorrent and other online means. Sharing is caring, right?

Bear in mind that these statistics can be a little muddled. If someone were to rip a track from a purchased CD, is that considered stolen? If someone transfered a DRM-free MP3 from a friend’s computer onto their own, is that stolen? On a side note, 80% of those polled said that they would be willing to pay about $20 a month for an all-you-can-eat subscription service. Wait… doesn’t the Microsoft Zune have that?