> 20 billion music tracks downloaded illegally in the last year

[queenlives]

wow... even if 25% of this (likely inflated #) we're talkin' a lot of $'s lost by bands & the machine.

"BBC has the following breaking story: File-sharing site Kazaa will become a legal music download service following a series of high-profile legal battles. The peer-to-peer network has also agreed to pay $100m (£53m) in damages to the record industry. The announcement follows the release of a music industry report that says more than 20 billion music tracks have been downloaded illegally in the last year. Hungry artists across the globe rejoice."

 

[Hugh]

They're spending so much time with the web based and desktop based P2P crap and ignoring Usenet. You can get anything on Usenet.

When I download anything it's to try it out. If I like the music, I always buy the commercial CD. The music industry can go fuck themselves. They've managed to market a product that can't be returned if it is unsatisfactory. These days even damn cars come with 30 day money back guarantees. if you buy an album based on one hit and the rest of the product sucks, you're screwed. Granted a lot of the web based sellers allow you to sample the other songs on the album which is a step in the right direction but up until now you had no recourse if you bought music and were dissatisfied with your purchase.

www.allofmp3.com is still up and running by the way. It is based in Russia and is technically a legal site due to Russian royalty laws. The RIAA has been trying to have it closed down for years to no avail.

 

[Synthesis]

WHY DO CDS STILL COST 20 BUCKS??? vinyl is harder to produce/less popular nowadays and it's still cheaper. dirty bitches.

anyway..... as long as schools like mine run OC3 connections with no limits and everybody has direct connect..... good luck to the music/movie industry.

 

[Shumdit]

WHY DO CDS STILL COST 20 BUCKS???

Britney's baby needs Gucci Diapers Yo!

 

[PhiAlpha44]

WHY DO CDS STILL COST 20 BUCKS??? vinyl is harder to produce/less popular nowadays and it's still cheaper. dirty bitches.

anyway..... as long as schools like mine run OC3 connections with no limits and everybody has direct connect..... good luck to the music/movie industry.

That's right. Those greedy asses did this to themselves. I proudly have over 1,500 songs on my iPod, and I probably had CD's for maybe HALF of those.

 

[H-carWizKid]

wow... even if 25% of this (likely inflated #) we're talkin' a lot of $'s lost by bands & the machine.
Hungry artists across the globe rejoice."

I was watching the preview for the upcoming season of "Cribs" on Mtv (you know, they ought to show videos on that channel sometime). Suffice to say, the artists aren't missing the money...

As was said before Brittany's baby need Gucci diapers? I know that was tongue in cheek, but the excesses of celebrity continue to astound me.

I say screw the big stars they can afford it, support your local music scene.

 

[downwiz2]

for every p2p, website with mp3s,movies, games, art, the music industry/film/law firm/game company sue or shutsdown, another new p2p, website with mp3s emerge....point is the copyright law is now obsolete thanks to the world wide web.

no one is going to buy a piece of crap album with 1 or 2 good songs

 

[queenlives]

That's right. Those greedy asses did this to themselves. I proudly have over 1,500 songs on my iPod, and I probably had CD's for maybe HALF of those.

so, are you saying you've paid for the 750 non-cd songs on your ipod?

 

[queenlives]

<snip> I say screw the big stars they can afford it, support your local music scene.

are you saying you're:

* against listening to the "big artists" (if so, it would be helpful if you'd define exactly what constitutes a big artist to you)

* or that you'll listen to their music but don't want to pay for it because you think they have enough money already (again, how much is "too much" to you?)

* you only listen to "local musicians" who apparently meet your personal poverty standards. (what defines a "local musician" - how many miles away from your center of the universe location = local?)

 

[queenlives]

<snip> no one is going to buy a piece of crap album with 1 or 2 good songs

i think a lot of people still do this, but i think you're dead on the money here... the business model has been forever changed... when we buy groceries, we don't buy the whole store - we buy only what we want.

funny thing is, when i was a kid (a lonnng time ago), 45 records (2 songs) were 99 cents and albums were 1.95 - 2.95 each. (of course, min wage was <$1.00 per hour, so you do the calculation)

 

[Juice]

LOL, ....and still counting!

 

[PhiAlpha44]

so, are you saying you've paid for the 750 non-cd songs on your ipod?

I'm saying of the 1,500 songs.. I probably had half of those on CD's that I loaded onto my iTunes. The rest were all downloaded off the internet.

 

[robr]

I had this same attitude with software. It cost me a quarter million $$$ in attorney fees and 16+ months of my freedom (not to mention 3+ years pre and post-trial probation restrictions). I can't vote, most countries will not allow inside their borders, and I can't own a firearm.

The DOJ isn't screwing around with this stuff regardless of how ridiculous the laws may seem, and it doesn't matter to them that "everyone else is doing it".

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anything said here, all I'm saying is be careful out there. I wouldn't admit this stuff publicly because if somehow you're ever the one in front of a judge, this will all be used against you.

 

[Hugh]

It would be nice if the mainstream pay per download sites offered lossless formats as well as crappy MP3 or other compressed formats. They sound like shit. At least allofmp3.com lets you do this but it is costly as their business model makes you pay for the bandwidth.

 

[btcog82]

People, you may wanna' remember this...Don't admit to doing anything illegal on public forums. IT CAN BE USED AGAINST YOU!



....



BIG BROTHER IS ALWAYS WATCHING:wink:

 

[queenlives]

It would be nice if the mainstream pay per download sites offered lossless formats as well as crappy MP3 or other compressed formats. They sound like shit. At least allofmp3.com lets you do this but it is costly as their business model makes you pay for the bandwidth.

hugh,

"lossless format" = zero quality degradation?

 

[Radical]

Lossless means that either the song is a direct copy from the CD, which usually means that it's in WAV format, and very large in file size (usually about 10 times larger than an MP3 at 128kbps), or it's been encoded using some kind of mathematically lossless compression codec. The lossless compressed songs are still quite a bit larger than MP3s at 128kbps, but they save space when compared to WAVs.

It would be nice if the mainstream pay per download sites offered lossless formats as well as crappy MP3 or other compressed formats. They sound like shit. At least allofmp3.com lets you do this but it is costly as their business model makes you pay for the bandwidth.

I agree with you 100%. It's ridiculous that services like iTunes charge $1 for ONE SONG, when you're really only getting about 1/10th of the data that would be on the actual CD. And to add insult to injury, songs downloaded from Rhapsody can only be copied 5 times, and after that, the copies no longer work. So you're paying a ridiculous price for an incomplete product, and then you don't even really own it .

 

[Joel]

funny thing is, when i was a kid (a lonnng time ago)

You must be from the 8-track days...:wink: :biggrin:

 

[Shumdit]

You must be from the 8-track days...:wink: :biggrin:

8 track was mid 60's tech. Queenlives probably was on Reel to Reel:biggrin:

 

[Shumdit]

It would be nice if the mainstream pay per download sites offered lossless formats as well as crappy MP3 or other compressed formats. They sound like shit. At least allofmp3.com lets you do this but it is costly as their business model makes you pay for the bandwidth.

The Germans invented this business model, right Hugh?

PS- I heard that lossless formats were too expensive due to the number of Zymes needed to keep the servers housing them cleaned.

 

[Ben]

I can't vote, most countries will not allow inside their borders, and I can't own a firearm.

Whoa, is this for life? Or just for the term of probation?

 

[queenlives]

8 track was mid 60's tech. Queenlives probably was on Reel to Reel:biggrin:

wow, they make reels?

 

[Shumdit]

wow, they make reels?

I found a guy who has a collection of all your old and current audio equipment. You really have spent some $$$ on this stuff over the years!

http://www.videointerchange.com/audio_history.htm

 

[queenlives]

You must be from the 8-track days...:wink: :biggrin:

indeed: 45's, cassettes, 8-tracks and cd's... been there, done that.

if your profile listed birthdate is correct, i was in combat school and on my way to southeast asia to fight them damn commies so we could survive and live to listen to these new-fangled mp9's they're working on... now, where's my cane to smack you with, you young punk!



(shuffling off to check the depends... )

 

[H-carWizKid]

are you saying you're:

* against listening to the "big artists" (if so, it would be helpful if you'd define exactly what constitutes a big artist to you)

* or that you'll listen to their music but don't want to pay for it because you think they have enough money already (again, how much is "too much" to you?)

* you only listen to "local musicians" who apparently meet your personal poverty standards. (what defines a "local musician" - how many miles away from your center of the universe location = local?)

OOOOH- that stinks of smugness my friend. You are assuming a little too much too.

Here are your answers, now climb down off your high horse.

1st, I don't steal, or share, or trade, or sell music. I own music that I purchased through one means or another. I have never used Kazaa, or any of the myriad of other freebie sites (I fear infection- free music is like a loose woman...)

I buy music, either by the album, or by the song.

My current favorite source is Itunes (even though they use an inferior file format)

As far as the great file sharing debate...

Funny how no one gives a shit if I borrow my buddies CD book with over 300 albums and upload them into my computer- but if we "share" them accross our broadband connection we become a criminals... Am I not stealing if I borrow my buddies CD's and rip the content? What is the threshold?

Maybe the record crooks need to reconsider their marketing paradigm if they are unhappy with their ample (even if diminished) returns.

Itunes, and paid file sharing clubs seem to be the way into the future- perhaps it would be a good idea to invest in the technology?

Nah, better to sit around and bitch while the market gets pulled out from under them by a computer company?!?!?

I listen to Music from just about every genre, and it is all available somewhere for free, but I never implied that I was downloading illegally, I just said the "artists" on Mtv don't appear to be hurting for cash.
I have paid out approx $1200.00 in the last few years to Itunes to supplement my collection. I like that I can buy albums piece by piece now. More often than not there are two good songs surrounded by 10-12 pieces of lyrical crapola. Now I just buy the 2 at a cost of $1.98, and leave the rest to fade into obscurity. Why pay $15.00? Sound quality? I just don't care THAT much.

Screw the big stars- they can afford it. If they want my money they better produce something worth hearing, and worth buying.

the local scene-

Local musicians need your support to become big musicians, and are often selling their CD's on the grass roots level, often with only a few hundred pressings which are privately funded. All I was suggesting is that there is a lot of great music possibly in your proximity, but then that depends on your taste, and in that instance it is a "too each their own" scenario isn't it? I was just offering an alternative to folks who don't want to support "Big Artists". So sue me.