Do you download music illegally or legally?

[Stop_the_War]

I download music off of Kazaa :evilgrin:

[MikeG]

1. I refuse to answer that question [Fifth Amendment]

[Liberty Belle]

2. No, never. As a writer suing publishers in a class action

lawsuit to protect creators' rights, I have great respect for copyright laws and wish everyone else would, too. It's getting harder and harder for creative artists to make a living because of the rampant infringement of works.

[LoZoccolo]

12. Doesn't it bother you, the insane twisting of language...

...that some of these pirates use as propaganda to try to justify their crimes? Stuff about "liberating music" and "information wants to be free". It starts sounding like fucked-up Maoist shit.

[Liberty Belle]

47. Yes, I'm glad you agree.

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. I'm a nerd.

I still buy CDs.

[Tess49]

9. Me, too.

[Placebo]

4. Both.

I download musique off file-sharing services (Poisoned for me, I'm a Mac user) but I also buy iTunes tracks, and I still like going to the physical store to buy the CD, for most of the music I really care about.

[FreedomAngel82]

29. Buying cd's is still exciting

to do. I remember being in early high school and begging my Mom to take me to the local cd store to buy a new cd out I wanted. :) Now I go to "Target" and they're pretty cheap. Sometimes the cd's come with special features. One Sum41 album I got had a DVD with it and the last POD album had a DVD and video game for Playstation so that's pretty cool. Plus, if you say you're favorite artist is your favorite artist you should show support for them. :) I have downloaded before from website's and stuff (fans and whatnot).

[Placebo]

34. Exactly, OR...

if I think there's a good new band just breaking out, who i'd like to watch mature, I'll go buy their album as well. Like just yesterday, I bought a CD by 'The Futureheads' and they rock! I hope they're around for years to come, they're pretty damn good for this being their first album.

[MrSlayer]

5. I download albums and if I like em I buy em.

If I don't like them they stay on my list for other people to sample. I run the largest exclusive Heavy Metal .mp3 channel on IRC and we always encourage people to buy the albums if they like em. It's important to support underground music with sales. The big artists can fend for themselves.

[Mojambo]

6. I download to preview only

If I decide that the work is worth the price they are charging I will purchase it.

[Catch22Dem]

7. I use iTunes, therefore I'm legal (n/t)

[AndyP]

8. www.allofmp3.com

go to the top left and there is an English button. The site is legal too, we emailed the RIAA and they responded back with a very ambiguous "while we don't agree and would perfer you to buy CD's there is no current law blah blah blah" Look it up on Google and read up on them. You can usually get a whole CD for under a buck depending on the quality you perfer.

[slutticus]

16. Interesting.

I like how you can choose the format and bitrate you want.

[Igel]

10. I'm old fashioned ... I still buy CDs.

On the other hand, I download lots of sheet music without ... um ... observing the legal niceties. :-)

[hyphenate]

11. I download through P2P

But 98% of what I download I already own in one form or another. (Vinyl, 45s, cassettes) The other two percent I download are usually an artist I've never heard of before and I want to hear what they sound like.

One thing I want to do someday is to get all my own albums and 45s on CDs so I never have to listen to them again on fragile vinyl.

[latteromden]

13. Man, has nobody warned you about Kazaa?

It's like a package of spyware posing as a filesharing program. WinMX is great, though. ;)

Most of what I download is foreign music, though, and not available in the US, and I'm NOT paying $50 a CD to get it shipped over here. I can't even pay for school supplies.

[SoCalDem]

14. neither

:)

[slutticus]

15. I used to do it illegally.

Now I use iTunes.

[wadestock]

39. The maximum is 128Kbps...which is better than MP3.....

but absolutely no match for a CD I can buy in the store on sale for less than $10 or so.

Anyone who is buying any significant amount of music in these formats is not a smart consumer.

[slutticus]

42. Yeah. I wish they offered higher bitrates.

I'm very partial to VBR MP3 myself.

The problem for me is that many times, I don't want to buy an entire CD. When I do want an entire CD, I will just buy it at a store, so I can rip it to the format I want. But if I just want one song, I'll download it.

[wadestock]

43. Apple LOSSLESS is the only viable new technology....

or other such future improvements which allow a CD to contain TWICE the information they now have....without any loss in "CD quality".

All we need is the industry to allow such lossless CD recordings on CD burners and then players to accept LOSSLESS playback and we've accomplished something.

[neomonkey]

17. As if I would answer that on a public forum :)

That being said, fuck the RIAA.

:+

[cynatnite]

20. I hate the RIAA

I prefer giving them the shaft if I can, but it means the artists pay the price.

I used to buy from the store, but now I get most everything from iTunes. I can preview the music, buy a single song without having to buy an entire album and burn to my little heart's content.

[Pepperbelly]

18. neither ...

I just buy my music on cd. The fidelity is superior and the artist should get paid for their work.

[wadestock]

36. You've said it all....

and that's why the musicians are getting paid handsomely and why there is absolutely no problem with the proliferation of MP3s.....

[sonicx]

19. Use to, but not much anyone...

Now I just file-share TV episodes and pron.

[BuyingThyme]

21. Never. I love to open and play and read and touch and smell...

the real thing. (I really do.)

Giving up CDs would be like opting for absentee voting.

No way.

[Vox_Reason]

22. BitTorrent is your friend.

I already own all the commercially-released studio records of all the bands I care about. What I find to be much more interesting is their live shows, which you can download using the far-better-than-oldskool-filesharing BitTorrent method. (Google it for more info.)

I strongly believe that you should support the artists that you enjoy by purchasing all of their commercially available material. After you've done that, what else is there? Well, many of your favorite artists played thousands of concerts, containing countless moments of pure musical genius--but they're not available in stores. That's where BitTorrent comes in.

Luckily, many of those concerts were recorded by enterprising tapers using whatever gear they had available, and the fruits of their labor have been carefully preserved over the years and have been passed on to the digital age, where they can be enjoyed in their original quality (without having to deal with the sound quality loss you get when hearing a tape of a tape of a tape of a tape of a....)

I've bought "Dark Side of the Moon" forty-eleven times in a myriad of formats; but can you buy THIS in a store?

http://www.easytree.org/torrents-details.php?id=14363

The Torrent available at the above link is of Pink Floyd playing live at the Empire Pool, Wembley, London on 11/16/74, performing the entire Dark Side of the Moon album, in order. Unlike most previous releases of this famous broadcast, this one includes that show's encore: a 25-minute version of "Echoes" that will utterly blow your freaking mind. Almost 80 minutes of legendary tunes performed live, in broadcast quality. You can't find that on iTunes, I can assure you.

If you actually go and download it, don't say I didn't warn you--take any necessary precautions and ensure your psychological readiness before pressing "play." Expect to have your mind forcibly expanded! You've been warned!

[NashVegas]

23. I Do Both

I have downloaded a modest amount. Most of what I've DL'd was stuff - like one or two songs - I had on vinyl once upon a time, and didn't consider the album vital enough to go buy a copy of the CD.

Other times, I've found things that cropped up on a search that've sparked my curiosity. In about 70% of those cases, I've liked what I heard enough to go out and buy a CD.

The copyright issue is a scam. Sorry. Unless people are downloading albums wholesale, and not buying CDs, it's a scam.

Record labels will push radio stations to play the songs - and only those songs - they think will be big enough hits to get people to buy an album. If a particular song is not in their priority for promotions budgeting, they will ask a radio station to stop playing it until the song becomes a priority for them. Sometimes, they'll ask commercial stations to stop playing an artist or album that they want to work at college stations first, so they can build *cough* street credibility. Labels have been known to ask radio stations to stop playing artists they plan to drop from their roster.

I look at mp3s as almost no different from what's heard on the radio. You're getting a compressed version.

MP3 sharing helps level the playing field for independent artists who can't get played on the radio, because they lack the promotional dollars. Of the 30 + independent, nationally recognized, working musicians I've discussed it with, two of them expressed negativity towards file sharing.

Of the sound files (live stuff, not the album versions) I put up on the website I administer, independent artists and their management are almost always more than happy to give clearance. Major labels - who control most commercial distribution - will not cooperate.

Well, let me clarify that: the guys working in the promotions departments would LOVE for me to put their artists' files, because they know it will help them sell albums and create artist awareness without them having to spend a dime. Occasionally, I get a "go ahead and put it up, but if the legal department finds out about it, we never had this conversation."

If you DL files, and you like what you hear, you should do everything you can to support the artists who make this pleasure possible. Buy their albums, attend their live shows & buy the t-shirt (that's where they make the real money, anyway).

[Walt Starr]

24. I do not download music illegally, nor do I condone theft in that manner

Sorry, it's thievery plain and simple. I'm not a Republican, so I am not a thief.

[wadestock]

25. THIS has never been tested.....

If anyone is challenged regarding a download...simply say you have the original.

Either be party to a club that can then send you the originals in question or go on the internet and instantly buy the originals in question.

Personally, I have over 10,000 vinyl and so may originals on CD I dare anyone to challenge my mp3 downloads.

Here's the idiocy of the entire thing....
mp3 sucks in sound quality...it should be viewed as a "demo" version of the real song....nothing which could be legitimately reproduced to make any money or cut into the profits of the original artist....

[WillowTree]

44. From what I understand...

....it's not the person who's downloading a file that the RIAA goes after, it's the person sharing it. If you're downloading but keep your shared folder either hidden or empty, you're pretty much under the radar, at least for now. The way it was explained to me is that they log in to the P2P sites and search for users sharing large files of copyrighted material. In other words, they can't look at your hard drive and tell which files you downloaded and which you ripped from an owned CD for your own use, but if they catch you sharing it on a P2P network, you're screwed.

Which is all way too cloak-and-dagger for me. I'm just too lazy, I guess. I'll buy what I need and/or want, thanks.

[AP]

26. Legally. Musicians deserve to get paid.

[wadestock]

27. They get paid....do you think that MP3s take away pay?

Come on man, think about it....

MP3s are low quality music that PROMOTES the spread of artists.

Meanwhile there are a boatload of listeners like me that want to go home and play music through some semi-quality system so they can actually enjoy the music they want to listen to.

Believe me, there are millions of us that only listen to MP3 to get a "preview" of what the artist is doing....then we go out and buy the CDs.

MP3 could be likened to a free commercial in this sense....and there is actually no proof that they take away from the artists cash.

[AP]

32. If it means I wouldn't buy the album, then they don't get paid.

I'd like to see songs drop from $1 each, but I have no problem with that price.

I love music and I respect people who labor to bring it to me.

They deserve the money they work to earn.

[wadestock]

35. But did you ever think that you're not the universe on this?

There are literally millions that are content with MP3s...which totally suck in music quality. Yes, they will continue to be content with that format.

But did you ever stop to think about the other people in the world that continue to buy CDs?

Your argument is a pure freeper argument....

Be careful to realize what you are saying....

In essence you are saying that we can't distribute ANYTHING WHICH CUTS INTO THE PROFIT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.

BUT...you have no proof of your theory. Think about it. You can't in any competent accounting way...based on surveys...customer buying habits , whatever...prove that the distribution of MP3s actually REDUCES sales of normal CDs.

The argument is pure BULL SHIT...promote by a bunch of scum bag businessmen.

[AP]

49. Your argument makes no sense.

Your argument is merely a rationalization for theft.

If you feel comfortable benefitting from someone else's labor, so be it.

I grant that if a friend lends me something, I'll listen to it. If I like it, I might buy my own copy, or buy the next album. Also, if someone in my household buys an album, I might make MP3s of it rather than buy a second copy for the household. I'll certainly make the occassional mix CD for a friend to try to get them hooked on a band that I like.

However, I would not go out of my way to download for free an album in any other circumstance, and I would never substitute CD-buying/legal downloading with mass-scale illegal downloading/copying.

Not only is it expressly a violation of copyright, but how do you think musicians get the incentive to work if not by getting paid for recordings of their work?

You can do what you want, but I'd feel guilty denying people the money they work to earn.

[Stop_the_War]

28. Musicians are already paid millions....

why would they need any more?

[AP]

30. Because they earned it. And not all of them make millions.

Look, I wouldn't want a musician to come to my place of work take my pay check just because he thinks I have enough, so I'm not going to do that to anyone else who has worked to earn their money.

I have less compassion for people who make money off of financial tricks and getting sweetheart deals with insiders.

But people who work for a living -- whether manual or intellectual labor -- I am not going to shit on them.

I'm in total solidarity with labor.

[Stop_the_War]

40. Are you against libraries too?

After all, by your logic the libraries must take away the author's profits, right? If you are not against them, then why are you against file-sharing programs?

[AP]

50. Libraries are huge buyers of books. And they don't photocopy books and...

...give them away for free.

If a book is popular, they have to buy more than one copy. If everyone takes it out, you have to wait or buy your own copy.

If a library did photocopy books and give them away to everyone who asked for them, I'd be against them because that would mean that no new books would be publishied and/or the only books published would be total crap written by people who couldn't find a job that paid money.

How do I know this? Because that's what happened when the printing press was invented and printers wouldn't respect the rights of authors.

You know why we have copyright? Because printers (copyright violators) begged for it after they killed the book business by driving every smart potential author into a career that acutally paid, like medicine or law. They were left with 20 to 30 year old books which were good -- but everyone had read them, and new books that were so poorly written that nobody would buy them.

Copyright is a bargain between consumers, publishers/distributors, and authors, where nobody gets a totally free ride -- everyone has to pay a little so that everyone can win.

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AP]

51. Just because you CAN do it, doesn't make it legal.

And if you feel comfortable denying artists compensation for their labor, go for it.

(And, by the way, arguments against screwing labor are not freeper arguments.)

[DireStrike]

31. I wouldn't listen at all if I didn't download illegally

And most of what I download is old or foreign.

[pabloseb]

33. It's a mix for me

But I will never use a site that clearly infringes on my fair use rights (DRM). So, no itunes for me. NEVER.

I use allofmp3.com for popular music (I don't really listen to mainstream music much anyway), and mainly emusic.com and calabashmusic.com for everything else.

However, I also use P2P to get to know new artists, or to get some new albums quickly before they make it to the store. I buy the CD anyway in many cases.

Artists should be compensated fairly, but the RIAA and DRM suck.

[B Calm]

37. READ THIS, this is a find like no other !!

This is an amazing find I found posted on another web site..

Those of you who are Winamp users and broadband subscribers, as I am, I listen to Shockwave radio (free high quality streaming music, WITH ID3 Tags). Anyway, I found several stations on thier site that have become my favorites and used it as a reference tool when I was watching the tunes and would write down the song names and go from there. The other day I stumbled upon a program on CNET called Stream Ripper, and man, this thing is OUT OF THIS WORLD. It works as a simple add-on to Winamp, and it rips every song, WITH ID3 Tag, that the internet radio station plays. EVERY SONG! Forget downloading, writing down, searching for songs, etc. Put the station on before bed, press the rip button, and you wake up the next day with several hundred crisp 128-190 bit songs, with ID3 tags, categorized (and even dumps repeats into a junk directory). CHECK THIS OUT. I promise you you will be amazed. (You'd think I was an advertisement or something!). I'll try and post the sites to these below...

(For those of you who are new to Winamp...try it, just stick with the older 2.91 version, 3.0 is buggy and slow)

Winamp

http://download.com.com/3000-2139-10199518.html?tag=lst-0-2

StreamRipper

http://download.com.com/3000-2168-10152668.html?tag=lst-0-5

[catzies]

38. Rhapsody subscription at listen.com D/Ls only $0.79 and unlimited

listening to everything.

[donheld]

45. Never, only cuz i've never learned how.

I have no problem with it. Just lazy ignorance.

[in_cog_ni_to]

46. Legally....from iTunes. n/t

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

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