Do You Download Songs/Files Illegally?

[Placebo]

I do. *runs away and hides*

But I like to think that I make up for the songs I download, by buying the band's DVD's and going to their concerts and such.

[motely36]

1. but don't tell anyone!

[mcscajun]

2. I can't in conscience take what's not mine to take...

...and I wouldn't open up my PC to that kind of two-way traffic, either. It's a tremendous security risk.

Where the artists have voluntarily placed their music online for the fans to download (like the Grateful Dead and other bands have), that I'll cheerfully download, but I'm doing so with permission, and I don't have to open myself to a P2P risk, either.

[tuvor]

17. I've never experienced any problems with P2P. Anyone else?

[Endangered Specie]

3. ...

[Placebo]

5. O M G

I didn't know I was supporting EVIL ATHEIST COMMIE PINKO SCUM! :scared:

Now I must cease and desist immediately.

[Endangered Specie]

10. and while were on the subject...

[Placebo]

12. WHEW!

Well I'm glad I know this now:

[bobthedrummer]

4. I'm a musician that has been fucked over by independent studios

we don't give a penny for all the music that's available-and yes, it is the music business of the entertainment industry, boys and girls-the bean counters control it and fuck over the artists terribly.

Get all the music you can and support your local musicians.

[salvorhardin]

6. Janis Ian has some interesting things to say on this topic

http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html
http://www.janisian.com/article-fallout.html

Who gets hurt by free downloads? Save a handful of super-successes like Celine Dion, none of us. We only get helped.

But not to hear Congress tell it. Senator Fritz Hollings, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee studying this, said "When Congress sits idly by in the face of these activities, we essentially sanction the Internet as a haven for thievery", then went on to charge "over 10 million people" with stealing. . That's what we think of consumers - they're thieves, out to get something for nothing.

[Deja Q]

9. Joe Biden, aka Bidet, is another Dem cyberfascist too.

Yes, many consumers do download. But Fritzie and Bidet just don't get it that the corporate element is hardly an injured party, nor a benign one.

[Deja Q]

7. Stealing from thieves. Literally.

I've downloaded a few. Own/bought tons more. Still buy more than I download and downloading quality is not good, or the song downloaded isn't the one advertised.

The record labels themselves are very greedy. $15-$20 for one CD containing 10 songs? That's highway robbery, especially when whole movies are from $10-$24, complete with truckloads of extras.

And when they have no return policy, it's damn difficult to buy something, listen to it, hate it, but then can't return it. You didn't like their product yet they keep the money. Sounds like stealing to me.

Also note that for every blank CD you buy, even if it will never be used for music, the RIAA gets royalties. Royalties for a product it never made or developed. (not imagine how much they and the MPAA get for blank DVDs and wince.)

It's hard to be a good moral consumer when the companies providing the goods are hardly good themselves. If they're not moral, why should we?

[progmom]

13. Only the ones that say "music" on them

The blank CDs for computers don't have a royalty surcharge. Only the ones for stand-alone stereo-component CD burners, which is why those blank CDs cost more.

[Deja Q]

19. Ah! I'd read for all of them, but what you'd said makes sense.

I wonder who buys them too, the only difference is the label color and fancy packaging and probably a lower quality grade medium too. :eyes:

[212demop]

8. downloaded lots of Replacements from Tim and Hootenany today

on limewire- mostly I download stuff I have on tape and never upgraded to CD

[tuvor]

11. A couple of things.

1) It's payback. Many, many times, I've paid $20+ for one song on a 10-song CD when there was no other choice. Things have a way of evening out.

2) I usually download stuff that is simply no longer available commercially, or stuff that I'm sincerely interested in finding out more about, i.e. if I like it enough I'll buy it.

3) I don't know what they're doing in the USA, but in Canada they charge a fee for each recordable media you buy. Something like 4% or whatever. Doesn't matter if you buy CD-ROMs to back up your office files, you have to pay. This money goes into a fund with which they pay the artists. Don't ask me how they figure out who gets what, but if our government's taken it upon themselves to do this, I'm downloading as I please.

4) Even if I downloaded every song available at the highest possible bitrate, I can listen to only so much. And a lot doesn't get heard at all. Lame attempt at metaphor: If an mp3 is downloaded from the forest, and no one listens to it, does it make a sound requiring payment to the author?

ON EDIT: I answered 'yes,' but after reflecting on #3, I don't think that's right.

[sonicx]

14. dirty criminal!

;)

i do too, but not that often. I use to do it alot during the Napster era.

[LDS Jock]

15. I do.. and I got this in my email box recently .. check it out

Dear Grande Communications Abuse:

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) represents the following=20=
motion picture production and distribution companies:

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Paramount Pictures Corporation
TriStar Pictures, Inc.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
United Artists Pictures, Inc.
United Artists Corporation
Universal City Studios LLLP
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

We have received information that, at the above noted date and time, the=20=
IP address XX.XX.XXX.XXX was used to offer or to materially contribute to=20=
the offering of downloadable or streaming copies of copyrighted motion pict=
ures. The title(s) offered included:

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE

Specifically, we have identified the following material as infringing:

------------------------------
Infringement Detail:
Infringing Work: BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
Filename: Bowling for Columbine.avi
First Found: 30 Nov 2004 03:46:57 EST (GMT -0500)
Last Found: 30 Nov 2004 03:46:57 EST (GMT -0500)
Filesize: 821,812k
IP Address: XX.XX.XXX.XXX
IP Port: XXXX
Network: LimeWire
Protocol: Gnutella

-----------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't done it since I got this email. Now I'm a bit :scared:

[Placebo]

16. That is a bit unnerving.

:scared:

[ldf]

18. no

i will not take something without paying for it.

[Kali]

20. I probably would

but I have a slow connection and I don't know how.

[Feathered Fish]

21. Yes, but sparingly

Most of the music that I (currently) listen to is unavailable on CD format (mostly old 45's). I have discovered tons of music by these older artists on P2P and that has led me to downloading but I try to support these artists (or their estates) by buying CD's as they become available. Mostly though, I purchase LP's on Ebay or at garage sales.

[last_texas_dem]

22. Yes

Yes, I do, and I know why it shouldn't be done and am opposed to doing it. I just do it anyway because it's an issue that, frankly, I'm a blatant hypocrite on. (At least I'm honest, though... haha)