| Infinitus |
| (regular) |
| Sun May 20 2007 04:18 PM |
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Lets clear this up!
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I have in the past used Napster and lime-wire. One costs money but no viruses/spy-ware etc... and the other is free and comes with FREE Viruses! WoW!
But.
I know Napster is legal but is lime-wire and other "free" music download sites?
I have been told they are illegal, legal and some people say only if you download over a certain limit it's illegal.
I'm baffled.
Now lets admit it, we all like freebies but is it legal? If its not then I will start to use the fee paying sites. If it is then freebie away! ( I haven't downloaded music for ages )
So please UN-baffle me, and is there any recommendations for either free or fee paying sites?
Cheers
Chappers1
| evilmonkeyzz |
| (regular) |
| Sun May 20 2007 04:23 PM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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Limewire is legal in its self, but sharing any copyrighted material, no mater how little, is illegal, so using Limewire to download music, is illegal.
I used to use Napster to download my music, but now I use Itunes (as I now have an Ipod). Napster is very good and offers different packages to suit different people's needs. You can pay per track (about 79p) and then that track is your's, or you can pay per month to effectively rent as much music as you want, and keep it on you pc, or mp3 player for as long as you like, until you stop paying that is.
| FifeFlyer |
| (regular) |
| Sun May 20 2007 06:27 PM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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Using lime-wire etc etc in theory , is not illegal as you cannot , ( at present anyway ), be prosecuted for using the programmes. As evilmonkeyzz has said though the minute you've downloaded or uploaded ( shared ) any copyrighted material then it becomes illegal , and the heavier the user you become the greater chance there is of being prosecuted. To add to that your ISP is likely to cotton on to the fact you are constantly using a lot of bandwidth , and are likely to throttle your connection . ( in many cases they won't even tell you ).
Best advice , stick with legal downloads. You won't find a bobby chapping on your door , you'll keep on the right side of your ISP and you won't have to worry about your PC getting infected.
| Infinitus |
| (regular) |
| Sun May 20 2007 07:33 PM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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OK freebies are a no-no then.
I have used Napster before and found it a fine site, but is there any others to rival them? Any alternatives that are any good?
| evilmonkeyzz |
| (regular) |
| Sun May 20 2007 07:48 PM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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I found Napster to be about the best. HMV run a similar service, same pricing, but when I tried it, the content wasn't as good. (This was over a year ago now though, so it may have improved.)
You can have a 7 day free trial of the service here. (requires IE)
Virgin also have a service, although I have never used it and don't know how it works, check it out here.
Another service that I use sometimes is emusic, they are different to the others because you pay a monthly fee and you can download a set number of tracks drm free, it does cost a fair bit more, and they have less mainstream artists then most sites, I have found some real gems on there. You can get 25 free track using that link too, defiantly worth getting them!
| Infinitus |
| (regular) |
| Mon May 21 2007 08:54 AM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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Hmmmm, They all look pretty similar, But I think I may go back to Napster Lite as is cheap and kind of "pay as you go". Plus I need to be in when those nice police officers call later today, something about Limewire? ? ? ? Maybe I've won a prize! Yey!
| Mouse |
| (Moderator) |
| Mon May 21 2007 09:14 AM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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You may wish to format your PC after having Limewire installed on it. Not only is it a poor p2p site, but it's also riddled as you say so at the beginning of your post.
| seasideC |
| (regular) |
| Mon May 21 2007 10:23 AM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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There is also a planned service from the organisation headed by Peter Gabriel called WE7, which allows 'free' non-DRM MP3 downloads - the catch being that you have to endure an embedded advert for a certain length of time.
Details here !
| Infinitus |
| (regular) |
| Mon May 21 2007 11:03 PM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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Tell me about it! But there's that allure that its free and that's what attracted me the first time, no its Napster all the way or possibly HMV as suggested above.
Cheers
| Blayfic |
| (new user) |
| Wed May 23 2007 12:17 AM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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I have joined WE7.COM and it looks like they may be on to something here. The ads in the sample downloads are not too obtrusive and if this is what they have in mind for the product, well check it yourself and see. I like the idea that it is totally DRM free.
| evilmonkeyzz |
| (regular) |
| Wed May 23 2007 01:39 AM |
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Re: Lets clear this up!
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I have just signed up and downloaded a track, and personally I would rather just pay for a downloads, even though the adverts are short, in my mind it would completely spoil the flow of an album. The only thing that I may use it for, is for a first listen to artists to see if I like them, then I would go and pay for it. Although, if they get a decent number of artists involved, it could be like your own personal radio!
I'm not sure if the adverts are what will be on the tracks later, as at the moment, it is just an advert for the site itself, later, the site will be using specially chosen adverts, so they might well be longer and more intrusive.
And, while I wouldn't do it as it (as I'm too lazy!
), what's to stop people just editing the advert out? (20 seconds with Audacity, and they're gone!)