Illegal music downloads

[Invisible]

Again in the news that the internet providers are going to send letters to users who illegally download music from peer-to-peer file sharing sites e.g Limewire & Morpheus.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to shut down the site and programs instead of writing letters to user. Im pretty sure a lot of people will just ignore these 'tame' letters.

[Gizmo]

It's not as simple as just shuting down a website, many sharing websites are hosted in countries where copyright law is not as enforced as it is elsewhere, most file sharing sites are constantly fighting court action by the RIAA etc, it makes no difference if they get websites shut down anyway.....you shut one down and then another 3 pop up to replace it.

These warning letters that some ISP's are threatening to send out are nothing but scare tactics aimed at the parents of many teenage downloaders who may not know the legality of downloading copyrighted material from Limewire etc and Bit Torrent sites, also quite a few of the big service providers already either block the ports that use Peer to Peer software or use traffic shaping to make it painfully slow to use them, any serious downloader wouldn't be using any of the big service providers anyway, and a warning letter is unlikely to phase them in the slightest, the internet file sharing of copyrighted material will never be wiped out, millions of pounds was spent in taking Napster to court over illegal file sharing.....an it made no difference what so ever to the amount of copyrighted material being illegally shared, certainly not money well spent.

[Metalattakk]

The thing is, the music industry is going about this problem in all the wrong ways. If they hadn't tried so hard to cling to their outmoded and now obsolete business model, they'd have been forced into embracing the digital age and provide a cheap, easy to use digital alternative to freeloading.

Let's face it, we all know that uploading (keep that bit in mind folks, downloading isn't illegal as copyright infringement is only a civil matter. Distributing it is illegal though ;)) copyrighted material is basically wrong, but unless the record companies make an effort to supply us with what we want (cheap, easy to use, good quality .mp3s) then what are most people going to do? They'll get what they want the easiest way they can.

For instance, I was looking the other day to find some AC/DC tracks, and checked on iTunes. Hey presto, they don't have any AC/DC. None what so ever. (And guess why there's no AC/DC on iTunes? That's right, iTunes doesn't pay enough back to the original artists to make it worthwhile. So again we're back at the point of who's ripping who off here?)

So, what are my choices? Will the likes of iTunes cater for my fairly obscure tastes? (Can I download Nuclear Valdez' "I am I" album? Can I y! What about Vandenberg's "Alibi" album? No chance!)

Once the music business realise that they are living in the past and that they must either move with the times or die, then we'll see some progress. All these letters being sent to suspected illegal uploaders is mainly just a smoke-screen to get the government off the ISP's backs and will amount to no more than a small hill of beans.

Oh, and of course given the choice of paying 79p per track in the UK, while our American cousins pay 79c for the same track....well....anyone spot the anomaly?

Music Industry? Get it sorted, fools.

[Gizmo]

Nuclear Valdez?...damn!...now there is a blast from the past, another good band that along with Shark Island and Diving For Pearls were screwed by the complete ineptitude of Epic Records.
If you still need that Vandenberg album then let me know and i'll hook you up with it.

[Metalattakk]

Nuclear Valdez?...damn!...now there is a blast from the past, another good band that along with Shark Island and Diving For Pearls were screwed by the complete ineptitude of Epic Records.
If you still need that Vandenberg album then let me know and i'll hook you up with it.

Nah it's ok, I ...er...downloaded it a while back. :eek: Well, it saved me the bother of converting my old vinyl copy. :D

[moncur]

it saved me the bother of converting my old vinyl copy. :D

Vinyl? whats that? :Razz

[Metalattakk]

That's what they used to burn proper music on. ;)

[Mystical Potato Head]

That's what they used to burn proper music on. ;)

Oh yeah, those big black things I use for frisbees!

[Jeid]

Oh noes! Not teh dreaded letterz of d00mz!

A letter? Seriously, I'm scared of that.

They'll never clamp down on it. They've nobody to blame but themselves. As said time and time again, they should've embraced the modernisation of media instead of running scared from it.

[Metalattakk]

Oh yeah, those big black things I use for frisbees!

Begone, Philistine. ;)

[Metalattakk]

Oh noes! Not teh dreaded letterz of d00mz!

ONOES!! They will be killing us. Killing us to DETH!!!!1!111!oneone!!!eleven!!

Bumz. :( We R ded nows. LULZ. :D

[Jeid]

oh noes! http://www.chcmedia.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/dead.gif