Music Downloads

[impressive]

I just found this site: LimeWire and have been pleasantly surprised with it thus far.

What's the catch? Is there some reason I should be less than thrilled with the free music? Is it legal?

What sites (if any) do you use for music downloads, free or otherwise?

TIA,

 

[NoJo]

WinMX, eDonkey, Soul Seek. Kazaa buggered up my PC.

 

[Just-Legal]

SuprNova.org - Gotta love bit torrents

 

[R. Richard]

I would be very careful with music download sites. There has been news on the web recently about some sort of music industry association suing people who are downloading music. The last article I read stated that some 700+ people were being sued.

 

[impressive]

Apparently (and this may be common with other such sites as well), you can also share documents and pictures and other audio files as well.

Neat option for our Audio Author's Hangout ... or printable versions of stories.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Kazaa left evil trolls in my system. Winmx sucked.

I've heard of Limewire....let me know how it goes.

 

[impressive]

I've heard of Limewire....let me know how it goes.

So far, so good. No alarms from either Norton or Windows XP.

I found some old Jim Stafford songs for AHers:

"I Don't Like Spiders & Snakes" for TheEarl

and

"Under the Scotsman's Kilt" for Belegon

 

[ABSTRUSE]

So far, so good. No alarms from either Norton or Windows XP.

I found some old Jim Stafford songs for AHers:

"I Don't Like Spiders & Snakes" for TheEarl

and

"Under the Scotsman's Kilt" for Belegon

I love Jim Stafford!!!

 

[Guest]

Hate to be the party pooper, but downloading songs is a copyright violation. You are, theoretically and in fact, stealing from the artists, and their labels. The theory being the song you are downloading, you would otherwise purchase. There have been lawsuits, with the average settlement being about $3,000.

There are ways to purchase music legally. Apple's Itune works on PC's, and Real, and even Walmart of systems you can do that.

KazAA, and Limewire do often install horrid spyware and other systems since they have no other way to make money, they let the makers of spyware and other marketing scheme software buy the right to be downloaded with their client.

I'd go with one of the legal ways to buy music like ITunes.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I used to use Kazaa and Grokster but my system collected too much crap. Hidden viruses, spamware you name it, some asshole is spreading it around, hooked to something you want.

But personally I gave it up when the RIAA (Recording Industry Assoc. of America) started sueing people.

I use iTunes now. A buck a song is pretty fair, especially when many times there is only a few songs on a perticular CD that I really want.

 

[TheEarl]

Ares is my current favourite for sharing classical music and classical music only. No spyware and easy to find classical music.

Because of course none of use would ever file-share anything that was copyrighted.

The Earl

 

[impressive]

Okay -- so you're saying it's NOT legal? I may be naive, but I just figured that anything coming along since the demise of Napster would be so heavily regulated that it'd be above board.

 

[Guest]

Okay -- so you're saying it's NOT legal? I may be naive, but I just figured that anything coming along since the demise of Napster would be so heavily regulated that it'd be above board.

It's highly ILLEGAL, Imp. All file-sharing of music, which isn't paid for, is (with very few exceptions).

 

[TheEarl]

Okay -- so you're saying it's NOT legal? I may be naive, but I just figured that anything coming along since the demise of Napster would be so heavily regulated that it'd be above board.

The software is legal and this is where the fineline legal distinction comes in. File-sharing software is completely legal. Getting copywrited music from them is not. However the file-sharing companies say that they just supply the software and have no control over what is traded using their programs. It's not intended for illegal use (yeah right!).

Hence why the law is going after the users.

The Earl

 

[impressive]

The software is legal and this is where the fineline legal distinction comes in. File-sharing software is completely legal. Getting copywrited music from them is not. However the file-sharing companies say that they just supply the software and have no control over what is traded using their programs. It's not intended for illegal use (yeah right!).

Hence why the law is going after the users.

The Earl

Makes sense now. Thanks for the explanation.

You would think that there'd be some way to encode a copyright into the files so that someone who might not be aware of it would be warned before proceeding with a download, eh?

 

[Bridget69]

I use Kazaa but it's infested with Spyware.

 

[Just-Legal]

A tip for everyone using Kazaa who wants the spyware Gone but it to still function:

Diet K

Google for it.

 

[Liar]

It's highly ILLEGAL, Imp. All file-sharing of music, which isn't paid for, is (with very few exceptions).

Depends on where you live. Using programs like Kazaa or LimeWre to fetch music that others share isn't illegal (yet) where I live. But as soon as I have files up that others can download, then I'm a criminal.

In the US and afaik in the UK, both sending and recieving is illegal.

However, crossing the street against a stop-sign is illegal too. This I also do on a regular basis.

#L

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Did you notice what kind of audio files the screen shot shows being shared?

http://www.limewire.com/img/40screenshot.gif

From my research, there was a time when the same people threatening lawsuits now, tried to get a special tax put on audio tape because it was used to duplicate copyrighted music.

BTW: Violating the copyright on recorded music does not mean you are taking food out of the artists mouth, usually most of the money is coming out of the recording studio's bottom line.

Did anyone really think that the RIAA would be so adamantly prosecuting offenders to stop audio file-sharing if the money went to the artist?

There is a long history of recording studios screwing over the artists that recorded for them.

The way an artist can make money from a recording --- if they don't produce their records under their own label -- is if they go on a successful tour.

 

[doormouse]

<<< has over 5000 mp3s.

Winmx and packetnews.com

packetnews is fantastic for albums. Check it out

 

[Xelebes]

The way an artist can make money from a recording --- if they don't produce their records under their own label -- is if they go on a successful tour.

Even then, you must be wary of shady promoters who mysteriously get busted when you already made the trip to their city, cheap-ass club-owners who won't pay you for the acts and the sort. It's a dangerous world in the music world. Lots of money to make but so many people want to have the money. The RIAA doesn't help it much as it only helps the big artists with the big contracts. Even big names in metal like Opeth and big names in electronica like Judge Jules are not protected by such associations and are succeptible to such shady actions.

There are however more stronger music unions and organisations like GANG (videogame music union) and... whatever the one is for movies, these types of music jobs are more stable but don't have as much of a following unless for some freak reason like a very recognisable theme becomes recognised. Danny Elfman and Nobuo Uematsu one of said examples - each having quite a following.

 

[nushu2]

Always hated the compressed sound of MP3's. Kind of an audiophile here. However, there is an immense selection of samples available from popular to unknown artists. Normally, I just google (example: blues samples) around and try out various tracks. If I like it, I'll try to find the CD or order directly. There are large collections of free promotional songs as well but I went through those before my last computer crash and lost the URL's.

 

[Belegon]

"Under the Scotsman's Kilt" for Belegon

already got it babe...

"Lad, I don't know where we been but I see ya won first prize!"

thanks for thinking of me...care to tie a ribbon on a sober one? *wink*

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

downloads

As you know limewire. com is excellent. Winmx is also great. Try bearshare.com also. It works on the same p2p as limewire. Packetnews is okay for albums but you have to have mIRC. Everyone knows about Kazaa. I won't use them anymore due to the recording industry singling out downloaders.

 

[rydia57]

napster?

No one has said anything about napster... I've seen their cards like crazy at best buy. I dunno how much the songs are and all, but since they went thru all that rigamarole you'd think it would be something better. Me, I collect midifiles. There are some songs that sound lust as good on Midi. No one fights over them, and no one (that I know of ) charges for them. Great for Christmas music!