Buying v downloading music

[Kate]

luxxi, you win, OK? I'm not a perfect person. Who is? And I'm not in the mood to argue with you, anyway. I hope you'll enjoy your "victory".

[coolasfcuk]

luxxi, havent you learnt .. ignorance is the key to success ... why spoil it now, ah?

[forre]

The End Of Online Piracy?

hi-hi

[spyretto]

The scare tactics they use in the U.S of A. have started to pay off and now many people have laid off the illegal downloading and have started to pay to download stuff. The losses of the record companies due to piracy have also decreased in the last year and they've also introduced CDs and DVDs that cannot be copied without being hacked in - even for personal use. The cinema audiences are big and the movie companies try to release blockbusters simultaneously in Europe, Asia and America to avoid losing money from US DVD copies that make their way into the European and Asian market.

I think that's enough for now.

[freddie]

Absolutely no one can persecute you when you're in Europe and download stuff for your PERSONAL use. (It's a different story if you dload a copy of Windows XP for office use, of course). There have been cases where American companies threatened European end users to immediately remove copies of illegal material on their HDs. One thing is for certain. There's NO WAY an idividual could ever get sued by an American Company. Colision law doesn't allow it for the sake of legal security. Only reason an individual could be persecuted by a foreign state is if he poses a great risk in the country from which the law-suit originates. And someone who downloaded a copy of a movie in Divx format so he could WATCH it, does not fit those standards.

[nath]

Originally Posted by freddie

Absolutely no one can persecute you when you're in Europe and download stuff for your PERSONAL use.

Not sure it´s absolutely right freddie: in France, recently, several persons were condamned just because they had downloaded mp3 in their hard drives.

[Mossopp]

Yeah, I have to back nath up on this one. There have been several instances in Europe of people having had legal action taken against them for downloading music from the internet.

[QueenBee]

Yikes.. I should be careful. Anyway, I don't think stealing is right, and I do consider that stealing as you get the music without paying for it. It's like walking into a CD store and putting one in your pocket and walking out. I do think that the price is far too high, I mean, I still remember when CD's etc. costed alot less and I'm only 15! It may not be much for the rich people, but it should be average for the average.

[freddie]

There's a difference though between being persecuted or convicted. Of course anyone can file a law-suit against anyone, but it depends if it'll be No court that takes itself seriously these days could convict someone on those grounds, when it's clear no profit's been made. It's like being persecuted after borrowing an album from a friend.

[Mossopp]

Offtop:
I don't mean to be pedantic but I think the word you're looking for is "prosecuted". "Persecuted" means something completely different.
Unless I'm missing your point...

[spyretto]

Using piracy programs - like Windows, for example - at your work environment is stretching it a bit, after all they do have an organization that goes around businesses looking for these things. I think it's preferable for your company to use legal software for their businesses since they can afford it as well.
But when it comes to copying things for your own leisure at the comfort of your own home, it changes. You should copy as much as possible even if it is to copy to erase straight away Exactly as freddie has put it, since nobody is making money out of the situation - except for the pirates - there's no problem whatsoever. Stealing? walking into a CD store and putting one in your pocket? Try doing that and see what happens then.
I think it's more like finding a bunch of CD's in the trash can and taking them home. Not to mention it's nothing tangible, the quality of the CD is better and not downloading will not necessitate that companies will make more money out of you because it does not necessitate you're gonna go outta your way to buy the thing. Money is their game, ethics is for the meek. About 90% of those CDs are not worth buying anyway.
So next time Avril Lavigne releases a new album, be good shoppers and go to the nearest CD store at the mall and buy it. Don't download it cause she loses money that way and so does her record company for putting such a masterpiece together. If you don't like Avril just find as many Avril fans you can and offer them as many copies of the Avril album you can make. That'd be pure evil

P.S. If you live in America you can also write a letter to Bush asking why he spends your hard-earned tax money on BS wars overseas and whether he would be so kind as to give some of that to Avril instead. But then again, she's Canadian; so perhaps you can offer him an alternative: Britney or Xtina or Jessica Simpson will do.

[freddie]

You are right Mossopp. *blushes*

Originally Posted by spyretto

I think it's more like finding a bunch of CD's in the trash can and taking them home. Not to mention it's nothing tangible, the quality of the CD is better and not downloading will not necessitate that companies will make more money out of you because it does not necessitate you're gonna go outta your way to buy the thing. Money is their game, ethics is for the meek. About 90% of those CDs are not worth buying anyway.

There you go. And that's my point. I will still buy the CD if I really respect the artist. This is how I show my support of a band. Even if I had Mp3s before. If an artist is really good enough he'll MAKE you go out and buy his stuff, with his artistry, eventhough you already have it downloaded. And the mp3s you dloaded and didn't like as much... you wouldn't buy them in any case. Eventhough you had no mp3s of that artist at all. As far as I'm concerned things haven't really changed. People will buy what they like. It's always been like that. And the proof that people are still buying what appleals to them are all the mulitplatinum album sales out there. It means that an Mp3 file can't yet replace the feeling of owning a CD version of an album by your favourite artist.

[QueenBee]

Don't get me wrong, I don't give a sh#t about the companies and their cash, I just care about my own needs. Pirates UNITE!

[spyretto]

Originally Posted by freddie

You are right Mossopp. *blushes*



There you go. And that's my point. I will still buy the CD if I really respect the artist. This is how I show my support of a band. Even if I had Mp3s before. If an artist is really good enough he'll MAKE you go out and buy his stuff, with his artistry, eventhough you already have it downloaded. And the mp3s you dloaded and didn't like as much... you wouldn't buy them in any case. Eventhough you had no mp3s of that artist at all. As far as I'm concerned things haven't really changed. People will buy what they like. It's always been like that. And the proof that people are still buying what appleals to them are all the mulitplatinum album sales out there. It means that an Mp3 file can't yet replace the feeling of owning a CD version of an album by your favourite artist.

Absolutely. Last year I bought all of Loreena McKennitt's back catalogue out of respect for the artist. also, Lacuna Coil, The Gathering, Pearl Jam, Sigur Ros, Tatu, and other stuff too. It doesn't make me wanna buy less CD's. The quality of new stuff makes me so. The stuff I download are old stuff anyway due to lack of good music in the new stuff. How can I buy something I can't even stand for 3 minutes on a music channel?

[Kate]

LokiTorrent.Com was recently sied by MPAA. More info on their website.

I wonder if it's safe to download stuff nowadays. They started showing a pretty scary "ad" in the movie theaters in NZ, claiming that downloading equals stealing and that people that download movies can be sued.

What's your take on it? Do you guys still feel safe when you download? Cuz one day, a legal letter may arrive in your mail box...

[spyretto]

The truth of the matter is, too much downloading can hurt the creators themselves. ( as I've stated before big labels are irrelevant cause they make a lot more money than they should, anyway. )
But when it comes to making it difficult for the artists to even survive in their profession, we should be more sensitive and try to support them by buying some legitimate works as well, that will enable them to continue and which is also in our best interest. For example, I've already ordered 2 anime DVD's to support the studio after downloading about half a dozen of their work. I think the ratio of 1:3 is quite fair, though 1:5 or 1:6 is not bad either.
They're making a big big fuss out of the whole thing: before the internet we still used to share, only the scale of the whole thing was of course smaller; there're libraries where you could lend and copy the items in question, and radio DJ's used to play full albums without being prosecuted etc. The artists have to make their work known. The internet is a perfect medium which has helped a lot in that department.
I think the problem arises when new material is being copied even before released and then it automatically renders its revenues problematic.

As for the answer whether I feel safe when downloading, well I feel confidently safe, cause a) the stuff I download are rarelly mainstream b) for a legal letter to arrive in my mailbox, the internet providers would have to conspire with the record and film companies in giving away personal data - and I don't think democracy has reached that state of fascism just yet.

[Kate]

Originally Posted by spyretto

for a legal letter to arrive in my mailbox, the internet providers would have to conspire with the record and film companies in giving away personal data - and I don't think democracy has reached that state of fascism just yet

Let's hope you're right... cuz some people in Europe were sued for using KaZaA last year...

[spyretto]

Did they pick people in random? And which parts of Europe? I heard about America but Europe?

[Kate]

spyretto, I thought it was in Europe... I might be wrong.

[Crampaholic]

Come on to dload things is not stealing its sharing plus personally i always go for the original cd when i actually like the artists its not like im gonna dload the whole album of my fav artist i cant do that i may dload but i also go for original everything after im sure of my buy... i bet lost of serious fans do that with music.. I dont think the members from this forum have the whole tatu album dloaded i bet they went for the real thing after getting a hint of their music on da web