For free file-sharing software check out Soulseek. I haven’t seen anything this cool since Napster. 
dude.
hey…take a look at bittorent do a search and you will find a link, its totally different to anything else out there. you can see examples of stuff you can get at suprnova.org …e.g. you can get whole albums in one download
No thanks, I prefer to buy things I want.
I don’t think that yet another “What is the best way to break the law ?” thread is really appropiate for Forumosa.
Not all artists agree with Matthew
So copy theirs with their permission. And pay the others who want paying for their work, that includes me.
This should be interesting - Big Fluffy takes on Maoman. I know who I’d put my money on.
I hope Forumosa doesn’t become a Prudes-only Club.
Come on, Fluffy. Don’t be such a wet blanket!
[quote=“Spack”]This should be interesting - Big Fluffy takes on Maoman. I know who I’d put my money on.[/quote]Well, I have to consider if I want to be a moderator on a forum that has wildly different opinions on right and wrong than I do. Yep, being a moral person in Taiwan sucks.
Some people might consider sharing files as morally justified. After all, record companies hve been ripping off its customers for years selling CDs at vastly inflated prices.
I know what you’re thinking: two wrongs don’t make a right. Well, maybe, but I suppose it all depends on how you define ‘being moral’.
You assume too much. And the high horse you’re riding on has lost its way. The first files I’ve shared with my brother have been mpegs that I took with my digital camera at the family reunion we had at the cottage this summer. Where’s the crime in that? Speculation is fine, but it’s just speculation. 
[quote=“Spack”]Some people might consider sharing files as morally justified. After all, record companies hve been ripping off its customers for years selling CDs at vastly inflated prices.
I know what you’re thinking: two wrongs don’t make a right. Well, maybe, but I suppose it all depends on how you define ‘being moral’.[/quote]Generally trying to do the right thing, not downloading something for free that I can buy, not going through red lights etc… No doubt there are things that I do that other may consider immoral, but I am not proud of those things, I don’t start threads encouraging them.
How about if I start a thread about “What is your favourite recipe for cooking your neighbour’s beloved pets ?”. That’s legal.
I don’t have much respect for those record companies, or Microsoft either. But I hate thieves even more. And people often forget that CD’s cost more to produce than a $10NT blank cd.
[quote]first files I’ve shared with my brother have been mpegs that I took with my digital camera at the family reunion we had at the cottage this summer. Where’s the crime in that?[/quote]I don’t have a problem with that, but are you sure you want just anyone to download them ? But I do have a problem with this:
I don’t have a problem with that, but are you sure you want just anyone to download them?[/quote][/quote]
No, I don’t want “just anyone” to download them. I’ve adjusted my preference options accordingly. BFM, file-sharing software can be a very valuable tool. I can download files of any nature from people I know. Whether it’s illegal or not is entirely up to me. One can send kiddie porn through e-mail, but that doesn’t mean e-mail is immoral. I think you need to focus on sharing of illegally copied files, whether that’s a cassette recording of an old lp (You’ve never made a mix tape for a friend?), or downloading albums with file-sharing software.
One Lie:
RIAA fears Napster-type technology since it threatens to redistribute rents back to the artists … plain and simple. It is simple economics. However, when you see them up on stage or in Washington, you get all sorts logical hogwash.
Fortunately for the RIAA, most Americans are drugged intellectually.
Another Lie:
People who don’t pay for music/software they’ve decided to keep and enjoy find all sorts of excuses to explain away their theft. The TOP TEN of my favorites are below:
[ul]1. The record industy produces more and more crap, so I feel I don’t have to pay for the crap I listen to. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
[ul]2. I didn’t know that a new version of that software was coming out so soon. Otherwise, I would have waited to purchase. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
[ul]3. The record companies take all the money and give none of it to the artists. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
[ul]4. The record companies are an evil cartel. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
[ul]5. CDs have always been overpriced. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
[ul]6. I don’t have the money to buy a CD or pay for a download anyway. So, I’m not really hurting the record companies. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
[ul]7. Record companies are always fighting new technology. They are behind the times. My voice as a consumer must be heard in a free-market society. I want more music over the Internet. So, I’ll help society evolve technologically into the future by continuing to steal.[/ul]
[ul]8. Downloading music (in general) helps the small artists. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
[ul]9. Court cases in the past said it was OK to record the Super Bowl on VHS. So, I guess its OK to steal.[/ul]
[ul]10. Sharing is my First Amendment right. So, I guess I’ll steal.[/ul]
I continue to download music off file-sharing services, including copyrighted music from the big record companies. However, I use it to evaluate within a few days. I delete it off my computer and never share it with others. I make a decision whether to buy in CD form for continued use or make a paid download (like iTunes).
I used to have a couple of gigabytes of downloaded music. However, since then it has been deleted.
The reason the music industry fought so long and hard against putting listening booths in music stores is not because you get to hear the song once for free. It’s because the record companies know that most of an album is crap. If you have the opportunity to see the real product before you buy (like in most other industries), you’d choose not to buy in some instances.
The reocrding indsutry wants to rely more on their maketing machine to sell you music. They don’t want to sell you a cool tune from Mandonna. Thy want to sell you Madonna. They want you to make an impulse decision to buy based on the fact that Madonna has a new album. They want you to make that decision regardless of the quality of the content. So many times have I made the decision to buy an alubm based on the marketing hype. I felt a cultural need to buy, not the need for getting good quality tunes.
So, what the recording industry has gotten away with is pushing one “hit” song and including 8 or 9 other trash tunes on the CD. You pay $15.99 for one song. Clever, isn’t it?
With the Intenet, I can buy that one song, and I don’t have to buy $15.99 for it. This SCARES the recording industry. It means that either their profits will go down OR they their costs in making the other tracks higher in quality will go up. I’m amazed at how Steve Job got iTunes on Windows. I’m sure there is more to that story than meets the eye.
Imagine what you’d think if your local car dealer said you couldn’t test drive the car before buying. You’d look at him/her funny. Then, you’d probably try to test drive it with someone who had already bought it. Then, the dealer would get angry and try to tell the owner of the car that he doesn’t have the right to let you test drive it because perhaps I wouldn’t like the test drive and decide not to buy. Instead, the dealer would prefer me to just watch a bunch of commercials of how I’d get more sex, chest hair and promotions if I just bought this car. Maybe I’d get Madonna too.
From what a certain lawyer on this forum tells me, downloading music for your own listening pleasurte is ‘fair use’ and therefore legal.
So, at worst it’s a grey area, and in a legal/moral grey are, use your own conscience. My conscience tells me that I don’t get a chance to listen to this music in Taiwan (on the radio, in stores etc) the way I would back home, sampling music off the net often leads me to want to go out and buy the CD, and I don’t care too much for the profits of the record comapnies anyway.
At best, it’s perfectly legal and acceptable, so just go ahead and do it.
Actually I want to stress this point. It’s not about those who don’t mind breaking laws they don’t like vs those (like BFM) who want to obey the law and do the right thing. It’s not illegal anyway!
Brian
i have something more to add here…but i need to dash out to work. later
Funny, was having a similar conversation with people last night.
I see no problem with copying music for personal use/enjoyment whathaveyou.
There is a big difference between copying music for private use and enjoyment and copying music for the purpose of turning a profit.
I will gladly support smaller artists on small labels and pay up the bucks to help them make a living at what they do. That may mean buying a CD or paying the see them live.
But, am I going to feel guilty about the 50 cents that Maddona lost because I didn’t buy her CD, or eminem, or Metallica, or Ice Cube? Hee…hee the thought makes me laugh. Or is it the record companies I’m suppossed to feel guilty about “stealing” from?
The fact is, I digest for too much music to be able to pay for everything I want to listen too. I need it like… like a drug… I have a problem…
Thanks. That means that you’d rob me if I created a digital work. If I spent the next couple of months laboring over a piece or work, I know I could count on you to distribute it to as many as you please … because it is a gray ara for you. Thanks … Thank a lot Bu Lai En. It’s good to know that you’d rob me if you had the chance.
There are too many sports cars that I’d like to own and drive … way too many to afford in my lifetime. Therefore, I feel is is OK to just go down to all the dealers at night and steal the cars off the lot. Besides, I have a need for speed … like a drug … I have a problem.
Who’s talking about robbing you?
I’m not taking anythiong from you. You’re not losing anything.
You ever borrowed a book from a library? Seen a painting at an art gallery? Listened to a song on the radio? Did you pay the artists anything? No? Thief!
Brian