I don't really worry about getting caught because I don't have gigs of music on my harddrive. And I don't share.
I use Kazaa Lite, and like others have said before, it's very good like Kazaa, but without the spyware/adware. Also as someone mentioned before, every person who has been fined so far has been fined for DISTRIBUTING files, not for downloading them. Kazaa Lite has an option to disable file sharing, so I don't worry about that. That said, I don't download music much anymore mostly because I have most of what I want. I still buy CD's occasionally, but not as much, mostly because I'm married and my wife disapproves on spending money on things as frivolous as CD's. If you're interested in downloading video, bit torrent is definitely the way to go. I would recommend getting Shadow's Experimental Client (BitTornado) as your software. It's very tiny and very effective. Then you can download small files called "torrents", usually the file will have the format of something like "The_Matrix_Revolutions[divx].torrent" or something like that. You can get these all over the place, just do a search for "torrents [thing you want a torrent of]". I get mine off mIRC usually. Basically, you open up the torrent file using BitTornado, and it will ask you to choose a location to put the downloaded file, and then it connects you to everyone else in the world that is currently running that same bit torrent, and you'll start downloading from them. As you start to download the file, you will begin sharing the file with people who have less than you, so everyone is downloading and sharing the same file simultaneously. The reason I say it's better for video is because you have to start up a separate BitTornado Client for each file you want to download, so it doesn't make much sense to do that for a 3 MB music file. To get KazaaLite, go to http://www.OldVersion.com To get Shadow's Experimental Client, go to http://www.emule-help.com/bittorrent.htm
I use Kazaa lite K++ completely invisible. Here's a new pay service that's really cheap... allofmp3 "Allofmp3's pricing? They charge you per megabyte. OK, sounds all right, you say. But get this: you pay $.01 per megabyte. A typical 4-minute MP3 song encoded at 128KB costs about $.04. That's no misprint. To make the deal even sweeter, you have a choice of encoders: MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Windows Media, or MusePack."
I don't. I use iTunes. If it is good enough for me to want to download, I don't mind the 99 cents. The only exception is independent artists who often offer their stuff for free. But, I don't use any peer-to-peer type things. I have quite a few musician, engineer and producer friends who make very moderate incomes and a decent chunk of it often comes from record sales from records they made or played on. As the market has shrunk and downloading has increased, they've lost money and it isn't like these guys are Metallica or anything. They are hard-working people who love music and make less than the average cubicle-working data processor. Knowing that downloading hurts them and their families and thousands of other musicians, engineers, producers, etc. just like them, I stay away from it.
One would think all that free exposure would add to their fan base thus providing a larger market and increased revenues. I only DL indy stuff as well and it's probably more true for a small group starting out than a establish musician who hasn’t quite hit it big or a group that doesn’t play live often. All that aside when one of my favorite bands puts out a record I still go down to Waterloo and pick up the album.
Here's the entire article from 'Dark tips'... Dark Tip: AllofMP3.com A legit music service, or a scam waiting to rip you off? Thank goodness the Cold War ended 14 years ago. The fall of a communist Soviet Union gave birth to the capitalist spirit in a reborn Russia. What does that mean to us, 14 years later? Dirt-cheap MP3 music! On today's episode of "The Screen Savers" Kevin takes a tour of Allofmp3, an online music service that could steal customers away from iTunes, Napster, and other services. Allofmp3 offers low, low prices an growing music library, and even free albums from well-known artists. They're slashing prices! ITunes: $.99 per song. Napster: $.99 per song. Wal-Mart: $.88 per song. Rhapsody: $.79. Complete albums from any of these services: $9.99 to $20. Allofmp3's pricing? They charge you per megabyte. OK, sounds all right, you say. But get this: you pay $.01 per megabyte. A typical 4-minute MP3 song encoded at 128KB costs about $.04. That's no misprint. To make the deal even sweeter, you have a choice of encoders: MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Windows Media, or MusePack. The catch llofmp3 is a Russian-based business. As you might expect, Russia has different laws regarding copyright. Allofmp3 has an agreement to sell music with the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems which manages Russian copyright law. Online reports say that Allofmp3 is legitimate and acting legally under Russian laws. MuSeekster has done a bit of research on the Russian company, and has a comprehensive Allofmp3 review. Not so sure about giving your credit car number to a Russian company? So are we. But we couldn't find one complaint or claim of fraud on the Internet. In fact, what we mostly found were testimonials on Allofmp3's great service. What do you think? Have you used Allofmp3? Any problems? Let us know by posting in the message boards. Dark
I doubt I would use my credit card on that site. However, unless I'm wrong, it seems that they accept PayPal as well. I would certainly have no problem using that.
My thoughts exactly - i'm still hesitating to pull the trigger, but the more I read the closer I get.
I don't download all that often, but when I do I use the new Napster... 0.99 per song or 9.99 per album....
I'm not talking about indie artists. I'm talking about guys who played on records sold on major labels. They get "points" for their work meaning they get royalties from record sales. As downloading decreases those sales, it decreases their royalties. The people that everyone thinks about when they think, "Oh, downloading doesn't cost these guys anything" are the big name artists - Metallica, Brittney Spears, etc. They also think of the giant label owners. But, there is a huge group of people who make only average yearly incomes from the music business and are directly effected by downloading: engineers, producers, studio musicians, studio owners, songwriters, arrangers, managers, collaborators, technitians and on and on. This isn't just about the people sellining millions of records or the indie artists trying desperately to promote themselves. This is also about the people who work their asses off to make great music and rely almost entirely on the royalties that come from album sales. I'm not dismissing downloading. I think it is an important alteration in the business that will eventually re-shape how music is distributed and, IMO, for the better. What bothers me isn't that so much as it is two things: 1. The concept that downloading music isn't really theft because it is just a copy or because it isn't a tangible thing you can hold. Everyone knows that if you could copy, say, a car and hand them out for free to anyone who wanted them, that person would be carted off to prison along with anyone who took them. Music is just easy because it is an intangible commodity. But, if the artist does not want you to have it and you copy it, it is theft. I don't care if you do it. Just at least admit it is stealing. 2. The lack of consideration of what is being done and who it might affect. As I mentioned, there are LOTS of people in the industry who make moderate salaries or incomes who depend heavily on revenues from record sales that are directly effected by downloading. At least recoginize it is having an effect. If you don't care, that's fine, but at least acknowledge it. Like I said, I don't have a problem with downloading. What I dislike is the wilfull ignorance of so many who don't know or want to know who downloading is legitimately hurting or don't want to admit that what they are committing is theft. At be willing to realize that there are always consequences whether you want to admit it or not.
I recently worked on a project concerning (legal) music downloading. As part of the project, I had to look at a lot of market studies, etc. There are conflicting studies on whether "illegal" downloading actually decreases music buying. I don't really pity the music labels AT ALL. There are a lot of arrogant pricks working there who whine a lot about "piracy", yet have been unable to use the Internet as a distribution channel for the longest time, and, in fact, have actively been blocking any attempt to make music available at reasonable prices over the Internet. The truth is that whether you look at legal downloads or at music sold the traditional way, the labels rake in most of the share of the revenue. They have been ripping off customers for a long time and have been wasting money as well. The artists themselves get ripped off by the labels also. The share the labels keep is absolutely disproportionate to the value they actually create. Therefore, they don't get ANY sympathy from me whatsoever.
The shouldn't. I can't stand the big labels. No musician likes them. Period. But, they aren't the one's suffering. Everyone knows that the CEO isn't the guy being hit hard by profit losses. It's the guy on the factory floor. In this case, that includes all the people in small roles throughout the industry.
I've been using allofmp3.com for MONTHS, and I've never had ONE problem. The site is slick (well, pretty much so), the features are awesome, and the quality is fantastic. (I wish the selection was bigger, but hey, you can't win them all...) You really can't beat $.75 for a full album...
I stopped using my mac and poisoned ever since my ibook was taken away, so now i use a little bit of everything except for kazaa(b*stard programs adware screwed up 2 computers of mine)
well i don't really listen to music. but i love movies. so all i download are movies... since i got shareazaa a while back i've downloaded tons... i won't get in trouble for that... right?
