Illegal downloading

[Butter]

So, have you done it, or do you actively do it? Anonymous poll, just interested.

[stevew]

They are getting into the country via computer now?

[stevew]

Bush better build a big Firewall!

[SirFozzie]

Now the question is, does it include the quasi-legal services such as AllOfMP3..

[Yossarian]

As an aside from illegal download services, i've recently become a fan of emusic

it's a fully legal Canadian based company that DOES pay royalties. For 9.99 a month you get 40 downloads which works out pretty cheap.

there's no minimum subscription and the downloads are drm free so you and do what you like with them.

I've only just subscribed - the collection seems to be almost entirely indi (if you are a pitchfork fan you'd probably find a lot of their favs in the catalogue).

it's the cheapest I've found online - anyone found anything cheaper / fully moral? (i think allofmp3 is legal, just not 'moral' in the sense that noone is compensated)

[Butter]

Probably shouldn't have called the thread "illegal downloading"... that loads the question a bit. But let's say for the sake of argument that AllofMP3 is illegal. After all, it is Russian. I've been on enough Russian sites to see that their respect for copyright law is lax at best.

[cthomer5000]

As an aside from illegal download services, i've recently become a fan of emusic

it's a fully legal Canadian based company that DOES pay royalties. For 9.99 a month you get 40 downloads which works out pretty cheap.

there's no minimum subscription and the downloads are drm free so you and do what you like with them.

I've only just subscribed - the collection seems to be almost entirely indi (if you are a pitchfork fan you'd probably find a lot of their favs in the catalogue).

it's the cheapest I've found online - anyone found anything cheaper / fully moral? (i think allofmp3 is legal, just not 'moral' in the sense that noone is compensated)

I've been pushing them for quite some time. If the labels they have on the site align with your tastes, it's a jackpot. I've got the 90 download a month plan.

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

I dont do games, but I do music and movies all the time.

[John Galt]

You are missing an option that fits me (and I would guess a fair number of other people). I was an early file sharer (Napster era and soon after), but don't do it anymore. I'm not sure where that fits with the poll. And the lack of trout option also discourages me from replying to this poll.

[wade moore]

I think most people know where I stand on this.

[Butter]

You are missing an option that fits me (and I would guess a fair number of other people). I was an early file sharer (Napster era and soon after), but don't do it anymore. I'm not sure where that fits with the poll. And the lack of trout option also discourages me from replying to this poll.

Why did you stop?

[ISiddiqui]

You are missing an option that fits me (and I would guess a fair number of other people). I was an early file sharer (Napster era and soon after), but don't do it anymore. I'm not sure where that fits with the poll. And the lack of trout option also discourages me from replying to this poll.

Same with me... though I voted for the first 'no'. I guess that describes me now.

[tanglewood]

I do lots with music, very occasionally with movies and never have with games.

[stevew]

I stopped cause I don't want to get sued. I don't have the cashflow to pay for their extortion. Also, it's just better for the peace of mind to just pay extra and make sure it's legal.

[John Galt]

Why did you stop?

A combination of factors. First, the legality became a closer question in my mind. Initially, I was fairly persuaded that file sharing was probably fair use. Over time, the law seemed to be headed the other direction. Second, completely legal options eventually became available. My early motivation for downloading was being able to get single songs off of crappy albums. Once the industry finally got of its ass and allowed that, I was willing to pay. Third, things were just easier in the Napster days. You didn't have to worry about spyware, fake files, and people who were pure leeches. I just didn't want to hassle with the problems anymore.

[wade moore]

A combination of factors. First, the legality became a closer question in my mind. Initially, I was fairly persuaded that file sharing was probably fair use. Over time, the law seemed to be headed the other direction. Second, completely legal options eventually became available. My early motivation for downloading was being able to get single songs off of crappy albums. Once the industry finally got of its ass and allowed that, I was willing to pay. Third, things were just easier in the Napster days. You didn't have to worry about spyware, fake files, and people who were pure leeches. I just didn't want to hassle with the problems anymore.

This is pretty much me except with an added reason: I grew up. When napster really boomed I was a Freshman/Sophomore in College... I didn't care that it was illegal, that I was stealing, etc... I've grown up and realized it was wrong therefore I do not do it any longer. Especially with the many options for legal, affordable downloads.

[Butter]

I guess I could've put a simple yes or no, but I couldn't put a yes or no that covered every possible reason why or why not.

[wade moore]

I guess I could've put a simple yes or no, but I couldn't put a yes or no that covered every possible reason why or why not.

I think the poll is fine.. I view it more as a "how do I feel now" thing than "how have I acted in my 15 years on the internet"...

[Ben E Lou]

Anonymous pollThat's what you think. The Great Eye is ever watchful. Concealed in his tower, the One True Dark Jedi can see all.

[Ksyrup]

My problem with the pay services is quality. I still like to collect physical CDs, because the main way I play them is through my car's CD player. I can hook up my Zen Micro to the car, but even the top d/l bit rates can't handle the volume I like to crank to. I could be persuaded to move away from physical CDs, but I don't see it happening any time soon if quality is going to stay the way it is now.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

My job sort of requires that I do it. Running a radio show the hosts constantly want music that is somewhat related to the topics they talk about, so they have me download music on limewire. Of course, being hosts they have no concept of how anything works and will tell me to find some obscure song that they don't know the name of or the singer... and play that coming back from the break in 30 seconds!

[flere-imsaho]

I used to download music illegally, because it was easy.

Then iTunes came out, and since then I download music legally, because it's easy.

One day I hope the recording industry can spot the common denominator here.

[wade moore]

My problem with the pay services is quality. I still like to collect physical CDs, because the main way I play them is through my car's CD player. I can hook up my Zen Micro to the car, but even the top d/l bit rates can't handle the volume I like to crank to. I could be persuaded to move away from physical CDs, but I don't see it happening any time soon if quality is going to stay the way it is now.

But then you're definately not doing it ILlegally either... right?

[Samdari]

I download games to give them a real demo, not the crappy ones that publishers usually put out. If I want to seriously play them, I buy a legal copy. Since there are so few good games, I usually delete them within a week.

[wade moore]

My job sort of requires that I do it. Running a radio show the hosts constantly want music that is somewhat related to the topics they talk about, so they have me download music on limewire. Of course, being hosts they have no concept of how anything works and will tell me to find some obscure song that they don't know the name of or the singer... and play that coming back from the break in 30 seconds!

Do you realize how much trouble you and your radio station could get into?

[Draft Dodger]

the vast majority of what I download is music

[IwasHere]

I am going to have to wait until the RIAA vs XM Radio case turns out before I can answer this question.

[Draft Dodger]

Do you realize how much trouble you and your radio station could get into?

don't radio stations pay royalties on songs they play?

[Ksyrup]

But then you're definately not doing it ILlegally either... right?

I wasn't responding to that. I was explaining why the pay services aren't really an option for me (since someone brought it up earlier in the thread). I still buy everthing I want in hard copy (unless it's only available as a d/l).

But I still d/l illegally, absolutely. I download advance copies of stuff I want to try out before it is released. I either like it or don't; when it comes out I buy what I like and trash the d/l version (regardless of whether I buy it or not, because the quality isn't as good as I'll rip it from the CD I purchased). Occasionally I'll download something older to see if it's something I'd be interested in, but 90% of the time I end up trashing it after listening to 2 minutes of the first song anyway.

I'm comfortable with the way I d/l, even if it's illegal. The vast majority of the music I d/l is bootleg concerts, anyway. If they want to prosecute me for d/l'ing the new Tool CD 2 weeks before it came out, and I've got a receipt showing I bought the hard copy on the release date - if that's the kind of illegal downloader they want to take on - then fine, let's go. I'll be happy to parade the hundreds of CDs I've legally purchased thanks solely to the fact that I d/l'd something from those artists illegallly first, and that's what got me interested in them.

[Alan T]

I guess my view has changed today vs when I first got on the internet in 1989. We used to look for anything and everything back then you could download (I remember when Doom first came out, it was a 1MB download that took over an hour on our stupid 2400 baud modem).

At some point after college once I got into the working world I think my views started to change some. Perhaps working for a software company, it made me appreciate that downloading software without paying for it could cost people like me a job (it never hurts the big fish, only the small worker bees). However I didnt really have a problem with people downloading music or movies as much.

After a few more years, I realized that probably was just a rationalization on my part, and downloading anything that I was not paying for was all the same. So I just decided to not do that anymore and havent for many years.

I'm not really morally against it, and don't really care too much what others do, i guess just personally I guess I have changed how I behave though.

[AlexB]

I haven't ever d/l anything illegally tbh - I did take a peek at allofmp3, but wasn't comfortable with providing my credit card details. I have heard of bittorrent and file sharing, but I honestly do not have a clue how to go about it even if I want to.

I only have had an iPod since this year anyway, and the facility to d/l legally had been well established by then, it's affordable to me, so this is the way I go.

As some of the earlier posts have said, the quality is an issue, so where possible I have been buying 2nd hand CDs rather than d/l whole albums, for which the artist obviously doesn;t get the benefit this time, but for 99% of these cases I have previously bought the cassette/vinyl version in years gone by.

Bizarrely copying your own CDs to iPods is actually illegal here, so despite not d/l illegally, I am apparently still breaking the law.

[Joe Canadian]

I will download an album before I buy it... if I like it I'll will go get the actual album, if I don't I will delete the mp3's.

I also download TV shows, but only if I missed them that week... if that's illegal than there should be a ban on VHS recorders, and TIVO.

[Franklinnoble]

I used to, back when Napster first came out. But after they got shut down, I gave it up. The later offerrings became too riddled with spyware, and the file quality began to get really poor.

[JS19]

I still use limewire. I did give it up for a while bc I kept getting suckass quality songs until I was informed that I can d/l the better version of limewire, i think its limewire plus, from limewire. Ever since then all songs have been top notch.

[Antmeister]

I will download an album before I buy it... if I like it I'll will go get the actual album, if I don't I will delete the mp3's.

I also download TV shows, but only if I missed them that week... if that's illegal than there should be a ban on VHS recorders, and TIVO.

I used to do the same thing when Napster first came out, but nowadays I can hear enough of a preview of the song that I don't do so any longer. Plus I tend to download a lot of open source music these days so its free to download and share to get more publicity for the artist.

[Ksyrup]

I used to, back when Napster first came out. But after they got shut down, I gave it up. The later offerrings became too riddled with spyware, and the file quality began to get really poor.

I haven't used a Napster-like program since maybe 6 months after Napster got shutdown. These days, I use the newsgroups (which isn't on-demand, it's basically like fishing and you pull up whatever looks good) and YSI'ing stuff to/from internet friends.

In fact, I believe the YSI-type large file sending websites will become the next target for the RIAA. It's much more like tape-trading used to be in the 80s, since you only have a limited number of downloads available for each upload, but I know it's all or nothing to them.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

don't radio stations pay royalties on songs they play?
I would love for them to just give me a shitty jingle package and tell me to play that. It would make my job a lot easier then every damn time a dog story comes up having a host saying "play 'who let the dogs out'" and then playing something that won't cause me to leave a pile of bloody body parts strewn about the studio... (although they told me to never again play Doris Day's How Much is That Doggie in the Window again...)

[Tigercat]

Add porn and literature to this and you have a complete list of my non purchased downloaded sins.

Glad to see I am not the only evil one around though, was the only vote up there for a while.