First I would like to apologize for my lengthy absence from this blog-with school, two theatre performances to work on, exams, work... well anyway school is almost over for the summer and I am back-plan on weekly updates from here on out :)
Now, for this week, it has been well known for very long that if you want illegal music downloads, you turn to P2P clients to access this vast database of information. Today we will cover the lawsuit LimeWire has filed against them, and also my opinion on the music downloading industry.
According to CNET.com, LimeWire finally lost in the battle against the RIAA regarding the accessibility of unlicensed, unpaid-for music downloads. The estimate is that 58% of illegal downloads comes from LimeWire, and because of this and their "lack of action" towards stopping the illegalities they are at fault for the downloads. LimeWire could face the RIAA's maximum penalty of $150,000 per illegal transaction, putting the total amount due in fines in the billions.
Now, here is a news video about file sharing and downloading. Whether or not this reflects my opinion, you will soon find out.
And this is a podcast that covers my opinion on LimeWire. The program ITSELF is not illegal, it's what you do with it. Simple as that.
Now. Here is how I feel about file sharing/downloading. This is purely my opinion, and nothing more. We live in a day and age where, whether you like it or not, people require free things to allow for any interest whatsoever in a product or service. It has a lot to do with the economy, but also that we as a society are spoiled by Google and the internet and accessibility. What you are now thinking, however, is that by downloading music illegally, I am hurting the song artists by stealing all their money. The truth behind this is that, #1. Artists do not make much money, sometimes none at all, from their sales. It comes from ticket sales at concerts, merchandising, and publicity. Still you say this is not a good reason? Well #2 is my personal use of music downloads. If there is a new song or artist I am not familiar with, I will turn to LimeWire and download that one song. From there, I may download a few more songs from the artist. On SEVERAL occasions, this has led me to greatly appreciate and enjoy an artist. I then want the better quality, because with LimeWire you will NOT get the sound quality that physical purchasing of music will give you. I have bought 10+ CDs in the last few months, all influenced by artists I heard on the radio and downloaded songs from LimeWire.
I have over 3000 songs on my computer alone, and about half are completely legit. I will not say much about the rest because to be honest it's hard to tell what I downloaded through LimeWire and what I had to purchase from iTunes. Artists I would never have listened to before are in my collection, and like I said, I purchase more music if I can enjoy it for free first.
Make your own opinions, but mine is that LimeWire helps the music industry. Big Time.
Agreed. :)
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