kazah and the like
 

is anyone still using kazaa and the like

I use soul seek and DC++ all the time. The soulseek server has been down for the past week though, I'm starting to think the RIAA shut them down or something.

I call upon all music lovers to extend a big "F*CK YOU!" to the RIAA. Buy only indie recordings; buy only used CDs. www.cdbaby.com has a good selection of indie stuff. Buy used while you still can, because the RIAA and their cronies on Capitol Hill may yet find a way to make it illegal!

I use WinMX - I don't use Kazaa because of all of the spyware crap it installs.

Kazaa lite seems to be the way to go. No spyware - or so I've heard.

Jeff

while I have some issues with the RIAA, stealing music is stealing. Period. You can rationalize all you want (cd prices are too high, etc), but there is a legitimate market, and the way that a civilized society works is that if you want something you pay for it. If you take it for free, then you are stealing.

I'm sure you wouldn't be happy if someone came and "downloaded" your 911 from your driveway...

I didn't want to head down this path since I'm aware there are professional (or semi-pro) musicians who hang out here. But...

1) Copyright infringement is NOT STEALING. I do not condone copyright infringement (or stealing, for that matter), but there is a definitive, legal distinction between the two, regardless of what the RIAA or Lars Ulrich tell you. The 911 "download" analogy is spurious.

2) The RIAA brought this on themselves by resisting both progress and technology and by attempting to squeeze the jelly out of Joe Consumer and John Artist at the same time. How is it that manufacturing costs have gone down and production costs have gone down, yet CD prices have increased monotonically since the inception of the format (excluding Universal's recent announcement--which screws the retailers)?

3) Large corporate entities have too much power over our easily-bought goverment and deserve any shafting we can possibly give them. Why is the maximum penalty for selling a burned copy of a CD worse than that for armed robbery (hyperbole, yes, but not by much)?

4) Numerous analyses have shown that the "downturn" in music sales can be more easily linked to (a) the economy and (b) the crappy musing getting produced these days than to Kazaa, Napster, or what-have-you.

Semantics. Copyright infringement is a crime. The rest of the points are rationalization for commiting a crime. If you want to partake in civil dissobedience, that is one thing. But if you just want stuff for free, that is another. We have a system for addressing these issues (courts, government, the marketplace). Commiting criminal acts is another way to tackle the problem, but let's call a spade a shovel.

Read my first post in this thread. At no point do I condone or even suggest that one should download music illegally.

only problem with this issue is that when you 'steal' music, you're not removing anything. the person that owns it still has it. if anyone could figure a way to copy my car and drive away with that I'd probably have him show me how so I could make a few backups for myself!! :D

What about deleated tracks/old tracks and stuff which was only released in promo quantaties ?

everytime I try and order a track I get the

"Sorry sir its no longer available"

f**k Dat,

when they come out with cds with more than one single on it i MAY consider buying it...

its all crap nowadays

All good points, Crappy music, high prices etc but it is stealing.

If I made a living from developing and selling music, movies or software and someone is flipping me the bird as they help themselves to a copy I certainly wouldn't appreciate it.

Buying used CDs is a good idea. BTW, Apple's music download service hit 10 million downloads last week after 3 months of operation. 99 cents a pop. Is that fair? You're not forced to buy the whole album (CD) and the price is somewhat reasonable. Perhaps competition will make it even cheaper.

only problem though is that mp3 compression audio quality is not as good as a CD. I guess it all depends on what your standards are

Well, that is the essence of lossy compression. If it were as good as a CD you would need 640 MB to hold 74 minutes of music. MP3 at 192 VBR is pretty durn good though.

Is it stealing if you listen to the radio (music) but switch the channel before the commercial spot comes on?

Apple uses AAC compression...sounds better than MP3 to my ears.

Radio pays the artists each time they play a song, so the commercials don't figure into that. Stations and advertisers know about tune-out factors and figure that into the business model.

Anything like Apple iTunes, except for the PC? The only one I found was Rhapsody, and I don't like only being able to preview only the first 30 seconds of each song. If I buy it, I want to be able to hear the entire song first.

very good point!! ;)

we are thiefs, we don't have standards...