Limewire

[Figmentum]

Do any of you use limewire or other p2p software(please state). Or any specific questions/opinions in regards to legality?

[The 10th Plague]

I really don't use LimeWire anymore; it's a complete shitty program. You can only download the mainstream things. If you want anything more special, you won't find it on LimeWire.

I recommend a Torrent-client (i.e uTorrent, BitTorrent etc.). With Torrents you can download virtually anything you like. Also complete software.

When it comes to legality I'm not that legal, when it comes to downloading, to be honest. But still, I buy a lot cd's. When I think a band is really good, I must buy an album, for a real album just creates an extra dimension, which I'll never get from downloading.

[logan235711]

limewire sucks! use Soulseek (both versions) for music and just a basic torrent program for p2p

[HackerX]

torrents, torrents and more torrents.

[rwyatt365]

I use Limewire for mainstream stuff; oldies, classic rock, R&B
Otherwise I use BitTorrent.

[rocksteady]

As far a legality goes, copyright law is a mess. And Musicians should be able to afford a living making music, but they don't need millions of dollars either. I think the entire music industry needs to be dismantled and rebuilt, so I don't mind doing my best to contribute to it's demise by using p2p applications.

I recommend everyone one use something like Peer Guardian to protect themselves from potential RIAA Ip's, not foolproof but at least affords some level of protection.

I go bittorrent all the way!

[Figmentum]

I've never really thought of that. Quite frankly, I would have to agree whole heartedly. Commercializing art, is worthy of an industries death. Cool, thanks.

[The Rose]

I am a songwriter, so I don't steal other people's work. I pay for it.

[Lucid]

What I think is interesting about p2p and artists getting all up in arms over it is that the smaller acts (who really need the money) don't seem to mind. For the most part they seem happy that people are hearing their stuff.
The people who do get all upset over downloading are the monster acts who have plenty of money.
Why is this I wonder?

[rwyatt365]

I am a songwriter, so I don't steal other people's work. I pay for it.
Here's how I work; I hear a song that I like, find out who the artist is (which is not always easy), then try to find the song on the 'Net. Then I try to find the album that the song is on and find a few more songs from that album. If what I find is good, then I'll buy the CD. If the CD "passes muster" then I'll put that artist on my "to-buy" list.

From then on, if I run into another CD from that artist I'll buy it - unheard. If I get burned too many times, that artist comes off my "to-buy" list and I go on.

To me, grabbing songs from the Internet is a way to sample what the artist has to offer. Back in the 70s and 80s (gasp! before CD's :scared:) I had to buy a lot of lousy albums just to have a few good songs. I had a collection of over 1000 LP's probably half of which only had one good song on them. that was bad enough when LPs cost $4-8, I would not duplicate that with $12-18 CDs! I don't mind paying, but I hate paying for garbage.

[The Rose]

What I think is interesting about p2p and artists getting all up in arms over it is that the smaller acts (who really need the money) don't seem to mind. For the most part they seem happy that people are hearing their stuff.
The people who do get all upset over downloading are the monster acts who have plenty of money.
Why is this I wonder?The smaller acts probably still have another source of income. The musicians I know have full time jobs and play music on nights and weekends.

[HackerX]

What I think is interesting about p2p and artists getting all up in arms over it is that the smaller acts (who really need the money) don't seem to mind. For the most part they seem happy that people are hearing their stuff.
The people who do get all upset over downloading are the monster acts who have plenty of money.
Why is this I wonder?

The only people who make any money at all off record sales are the (really) big artists and record companies. Everyone else makes the money with concerts and merchandise.

So smaller artists don't care because they're not making any money anyway, and it's a chance to screw their record company (who are always working dilligently to screw the artists). And any promotion at all for the smaller artists means more people showing up to concerts.

Bigger artists care because their record companies tell them that they should care.

[Lucid]

The only people who make any money at all off record sales are the (really) big artists and record companies. Everyone else makes the money with concerts and merchandise.

So smaller artists don't care because they're not making any money anyway, and it's a chance to screw their record company (who are always working dilligently to screw the artists). And any promotion at all for the smaller artists means more people showing up to concerts.

Bigger artists care because their record companies tell them that they should care.

I believe you're right.

[HackerX]

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[sw7104]

uTorrent -- small, super easy to install, gets the job done very well, not a memory hog (like the java-based clients)

[rocksteady]

What I think is interesting about p2p and artists getting all up in arms over it is that the smaller acts (who really need the money) don't seem to mind. For the most part they seem happy that people are hearing their stuff.
The people who do get all upset over downloading are the monster acts who have plenty of money.
Why is this I wonder?

yes, it's a culture of greed in an industry that is based on art. that in itself is a problem. Most people have no problem compensating artists they like, it's just that the system is set-up in such a way that it is overly commercialized, which is basically killing itself.

and to those artists that think that letting people hear their music for free is a bad thing, I say this -

stop being greedy, money and art should be as separate as possible. If you are a good artist, you will have fans that compensate you as such, be happy with that.

[Heretic]

I don't have links to hard numbers, but as far as the artists themselves are concerned, the majority of profits come from concerts. I think it's pretty silly for artists to condemn one of the best transmission media in today's world and claim it hurts their living when, in fact, it most likely does the exact opposite.

If a person thinks a band is good, that person will go see the shows, thus money in the performers' pockets. Not money in the pockets of the likes of the RIAA.

While not an avid concert attendee myself, I do a bit of downloading to get a feel for if I like a band or not. I always keep a look out for new albums from artists that I like (in the music store, that is).

[cielo market]

torrents.

[The 10th Plague]

The music industry is way too commercialized. As said by some others, it's destroying itself. The "big" artists nowadays mostly are puppets controlled by the label (mostly Universal these days in pop music), just to make money for the label. These "big" artists "rule" the charts for about three weeks, and after that nobody knows them anymore.

Is that music? No, as for music is art. There's nothing artistic about letting your "music" being abused by a major label. Also the rubbish which is controlling the radio, isn't music anymore. Anyone who has a computer can make these "songs" - or should I say "spoken words with noises on the background"?

[rocksteady]

The music industry is way too commercialized. As said by some others, it's destroying itself. The "big" artists nowadays mostly are puppets controlled by the label (mostly Universal these days in pop music), just to make money for the label. These "big" artists "rule" the charts for about three weeks, and after that nobody knows them anymore.

Is that music? No, as for music is art. There's nothing artistic about letting your "music" being abused by a major label. Also the rubbish which is controlling the radio, isn't music anymore. Anyone who has a computer can make these "songs" - or should I say "spoken words with noises on the background"?

Liked what you had to say until that last part. Most pop acts have the best producers in music, and those huge fees the producers charge are part of the reason many artists don't make money on sales. I recognize the value of pop music, I just don't agree with it being forced down my throat, which is what the current industry does. ON top of that, they have made it almost impossible for smaller labels to compete in any significant way.

As for the music artist merits, I think you downplay the amount of effort that goes into making these "spoken word with noises in the background"

You seem to have a computer, why don't you make a song and show us how easy it is?

[The 10th Plague]

Liked what you had to say until that last part. Most pop acts have the best producers in music, and those huge fees the producers charge are part of the reason many artists don't make money on sales. I recognize the value of pop music, I just don't agree with it being forced down my throat, which is what the current industry does. ON top of that, they have made it almost impossible for smaller labels to compete in any significant way.

As for the music artist merits, I think you downplay the amount of effort that goes into making these "spoken word with noises in the background"

You seem to have a computer, why don't you make a song and show us how easy it is?

It's a metaphor, don't you understand that? But indeed, I write music (although that's ofcourse a coincident), but that's certainly NOT appropriate for pop-labels :P The fact is that, many pop-styles (i.e electronic hardcore) need much less effort than other genre's. Ofcourse there still are many pop-artist who DO create good, real, music, but currently there's a downward trend in music quality (by this I don't mean "sound quality").

[Myrak]

I use torrents extensively for music and TV.
Torrents became my main source of TV a few years back when I realized us Aussies were continually getting screwed in terms of what shows the network aired and when they aired them. We constantly got 'new' shows 6months-1year+ later than the US, and many of the great shows didn't even get a second look by the networks down here. I finally found torrents and I could go on discovering shows at my leisure.

Music, recently I've been addicted to discovering new music. I download way too many albums to buy them all, so instead if an act I like comes down to Australia I'll make the effort to go see their concert. I value the live experience much more than a disc, especially because with my listening habits its much more useful to have the CD ripped to high-quality MP3 and put in constant rotation in my playlists. The CD seems a bit redundant to me.

[rocksteady]

It's a metaphor, don't you understand that? But indeed, I write music (although that's ofcourse a coincident), but that's certainly NOT appropriate for pop-labels :P The fact is that, many pop-styles (i.e electronic hardcore) need much less effort than other genre's. Ofcourse there still are many pop-artist who DO create good, real, music, but currently there's a downward trend in music quality (by this I don't mean "sound quality").

metaphor or not, it's still in inaccurate statement. And when you say "fact", I hope you have some sort of evidence to back that up. Also, I don't know what country you live in, but electronic hardcore is not pop-music in America. Fergie and Jennifer Lopezx are.

Once again, the downtrend in music quality, is due to suppression of alternate forms of music by the major labels, not because some people like to listen to pop music. I find your point of view based on false anecdotal evidence, and extremely close minded and unwilling to accept the preferences of other people. What kind of music do you like, so I can trivialize the hard work that goes into making it? Some people wouldn't call plucking a few strings and saying dumb words in a singing voice much effort either.

[logan235711]

but currently there's a downward trend in music quality (by this I don't mean "sound quality").
My parents said this 20 years ago too ; )

[Figmentum]

Heavy Metal bands are the mainly ones that really don't give a shit at all. If they get screwed over, they're gone. The pop queers and so-called "Gangsta" rappers are pretty much the ones begging for a treat from the record labels.


My opinion.

[rocksteady]

Heavy Metal bands are the mainly ones that really don't give a shit at all. If they get screwed over, they're gone. The pop queers and so-called "Gangsta" rappers are pretty much the ones begging for a treat from the record labels.


My opinion.

quit true, metal and punk labels have established themselves outside the spectrum of the RIAA, and have done well because of it. Their fans are also a lot more loyal because they know that almighty dollar isn't what is driving the artists.

[The 10th Plague]

@ Rocksteady

I'm not close-minded. I listen to a lot of different styles, and I am always in search for different music. My musical preference range from Black Metal to darkwave, to classical music, to Visual Kei, and anything in between. The fact I just can't stand is that when I turn the tv or radio, I get stuffed with only two types of music: rap or electronical music. "Normal" pop - like Robbie Williams, Madonna etc. - and rock are broadcasted pretty low.

I live in the Netherlands, home to electronical hardcore and Trance. We sort of created electronical hardcore, and "the best dj's in the world" are Dutch (that's a fact; this year, yet again a Dutch dj won the price of best dj in the world). Trance is a genre, which I surely classify as music, and I like it sometimes (I have 4 cd's of Tiësto :p)., but electronical hardcore is just rythm all over again. I don't know if that's real "music" anymore....

Once again, the downtrend in music quality, is due to suppression of alternate forms of music by the major labels, not because some people like to listen to pop music.

Have I said otherwise? I agree with that totally!

[Epicurus]

Limewire is really easy so I tend to use it atleast when I feel I have time, wich I never have even if I stare into a wall most of the time. I only buy what I know is good, like rwyatt said, pretty much like that. For more exclusive stuff I just check for a torrent to download. I basically only own good music albums (and dvds for that matter), not very much but I don't see or listen to so much either.

If you can't make money on something without forcing people to buy it or else they have to be taken all their money or be put in jail, then you shouldn't demand it either. Its like saying that you should be able to make money on whatever because it used to be so that you could do it before, but now we got some really evil invention that stops it.

[rocksteady]

@ Rocksteady

I'm not close-minded. I listen to a lot of different styles, and I am always in search for different music. My musical preference range from Black Metal to darkwave, to classical music, to Visual Kei, and anything in between. The fact I just can't stand is that when I turn the tv or radio, I get stuffed with only two types of music: rap or electronical music. "Normal" pop - like Robbie Williams, Madonna etc. - and rock are broadcasted pretty low.

I live in the Netherlands, home to electronical hardcore and Trance. We sort of created electronical hardcore, and "the best dj's in the world" are Dutch (that's a fact; this year, yet again a Dutch dj won the price of best dj in the world). Trance is a genre, which I surely classify as music, and I like it sometimes (I have 4 cd's of Tiësto :p)., but electronical hardcore is just rythm all over again. I don't know if that's real "music" anymore....



Have I said otherwise? I agree with that totally!


Ahh, the word pop has very different meanings for us, something I should probably remember when discussing music in the future :)

[ShaiGar]

I used to love limewire, but tonight I could not find a single instance of Barry White. Had to torrent it.

[snoogit]

If it wasn't the biggest scourge on my network, I might have some love for it.

[The 10th Plague]

Ahh, the word pop has very different meanings for us, something I should probably remember when discussing music in the future :)

Well, the word "pop" has about two meanings in The Netherlands

1) "Normal" Pop; like Robbie Williams, Mika, Madonna etc. etc.

2)The "music" broadcasted on POPular youth-tv and radio (like TMF, Radio 538 etc...)

It's the second type of pop I really find annoying.

But Europe just different from the States. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most alternative bands come from Europe - like metalbands, darkwave etc. - and a large portion of the population listen to alternative forms of music, but still you only get to hear rap and electronical music when you turn on the radio. I just don't get it :P ....

[mielikki]

I use Limewire for regular, run-of-the-mill p2p stuff. I BitTorrent for anything else.
I don't have a real problem with downloading music. It isn't specifically illegal in Canada to have downloaded content.

I have tried to purchase video from the iTunes store, but they have very little outside the 'States. The iTunes Canada store has nothing that I want in the way of video, and I would have to jump through several hoops to fool them enough to buy what I want from the US store.

So, no - I don't feel really guilty.

[rwyatt365]

But Europe just different from the States. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most alternative bands come from Europe - like metalbands, darkwave etc. - and a large portion of the population listen to alternative forms of music, but still you only get to hear rap and electronical music when you turn on the radio. I just don't get it :P ....
That's because (IMO) commercial radion in the US is, well...commercial. And those commercial interests shy away from what they perceive to be niche markets. Rap is "mainstream" now, and thus has huge commercial significance. So, since US radio is (almost) entirely advertiser-driven, they will go where the money goes. If people suddenly started liking cow-farts, then the US market will be flooded with "KFRT 101.5! Fart-radio!! The best cow-farts in the nation!" stations.

[The 10th Plague]

That's because (
IMO) commercial radion in the US is, well...commercial. And those commercial interests shy away from what they perceive to be niche markets. Rap is "mainstream" now, and thus has huge commercial significance. So, since US radio is (almost) entirely advertiser-driven, they will go where the money goes. If people suddenly started liking cow-farts, then the US market will be flooded with "KFRT 101.5! Fart-radio!! The best cow-farts in the nation!" stations.

Well, here the type-2 popradio-stations are only vastly popular with 15 year olds, but still it gets me on my nerves. Of course, "normal" pop also is broadcasted on these stations, but it's getting less and less with the minute. Example: A few weeks ago, I just watched TMF (a music tv station) for about 45 minutes; in those 45 minutes precisely TWO songs with melody came up; I even was happy when I heard Britney :stunned:

The weird thing's just that these radio's don't show reality. A pretty large portion of the population listens to alternative music (why do you think so many alternative bands come from Europe? ;) ), but they are almost not broadcasted on radio and tv; it's just weird :p

[Learning]

I agree with the logic of sampling music & buying it if the cd is good.
Isn't it still illegal, though? and the potential to get viruses very high?

[Vortex]

Necros >_>

Torrents are infintely better than limewire or any other P2P application like it. Safer, far more anonymous, full packet encryption... theres really no advantage to using limewire.

Your potential to get viruses is a direct correlation of UserSkill / (drunk*tired*impatient). I only got burned on a torrent once, and I had a very high tired + impatient modifier in effect.

[Antares]

I've actually gotten viruses and trojans from Limewire, but I have a competent AntiVirus program at my service ;) My computer is still clean.

It's strange on Limewire, actually, since just about the first results of anything I search, there is always the song title plus things like 'hot chick masturbating on webcam'. I'm a bit disgusted at that, really.

[schwartzie]

I've actually gotten viruses and trojans from Limewire,

The news had a story a couple of weeks ago about a Seattle guy criminally convicted of an ID theft scam via limewire and soulseek:
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He got 4 years.

[Theodoric]

You're a mole, paid for by the RIAA sent to ferret out anyone that infringes on their copyrights aren't you!?! Admit it now!

* sets self destruct sequences on all drives and removes backups from network *

HAHAHA, you'll never catch me greedy corporate executives!

Paranoid lunacy over.

bittorrent, in the form of bitcomet. Don't use limewire. Filled with viruses, spyware, etc. And crappy music and / or fakes / incomplete files. Torrents all the way.

And as far as the 'stealing' argument goes, I find it incredibly ugly, stupid, and disturbing. Personally, I've fond I've been exposed to increasingly more varied and quality music due to sharing. I support the few good bands by purchasing merch, going to shows, and dare say, purchasing their music. I'd rather do that than line the pockets of corporate executives that make more than enough money and cheat the real producers, the artists, out of their rights.

May the RIAA go the way of the dinosaurs for their greed and incompetence.





Theodoric added to this post, 11 minutes and 9 seconds later...

That's because (IMO) commercial radion in the US is, well...commercial. And those commercial interests shy away from what they perceive to be niche markets. Rap is "mainstream" now, and thus has huge commercial significance.

And the funny thing about this is that once something goes mainstream, it is bought out by the corporations and is suddenly flooded with soulless talentless acts empty and devoid of meaning just looking to make a buck. Happened with Punk in the 80s and 90s, then happened with rap in the late 90s and now.

What genre is going to be the next victim of corporate greed?

[schwartzie]

You probably saw this news:
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but, seriously, TorrentSpy's gone:(
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[HackerX]

It's strange on Limewire, actually, since just about the first results of anything I search, there is always the song title plus things like 'hot chick masturbating on webcam'. I'm a bit disgusted at that, really.

The problem with Limewire, or any other similar program is that after your client sends off its request across the nether, and receiving clients are free to reply with whatever they want. The equivalent also happens with various RIAA/MPAA type operations where their hacked clients just send out dummy data instead of what you should be receiving.

Technically bittorrent could have the same problems, but bad clients/torrents tend to be quickly blacklisted

[ShaiGar]

It's just a pity that torrents are so damn slow.

[Lout]

I use Limewire (Frostwire, ever since The Switch) for my mp3s. It's easier than torrenting the entire album for a single song, especially on my slow connection.

For movies, full albums and TV shows, torrents are preferable since it's more stable.

[Theodoric]

It's just a pity that torrents are so damn slow.

Limewire is much slower than torrents. 5k/sec compared to 100+k/sec? No thank you.





Theodoric added to this post, 0 minutes and 48 seconds later...

I use Limewire (Frostwire, ever since The Switch) for my mp3s. It's easier than torrenting the entire album for a single song, especially on my slow connection.


Don't need to. The bitcomet client and several others allow you to pick and choose which files in the torrent you d/l.

[ShaiGar]

not really, I've downloaded single House Episodes from Limewire, and by the time i had a full season of that the same season being downloaded on ktorrent was only halfway through. Started THAT earlier too.

[yondyr]

I'm glad to hear that, ShaiGar. Also in Australia, I was beginning to think maybe I shouldn't use Limewire from all the warnings. Not used it much, only lately moved from 28k dialup to satellite. but looking at utorrent the setup lost me in it's complication. btw, so new I didn't realise you could download tv episodes. well duh. House and Grand Designs would be my choices...erm how long did an episode take on Limewire?

[ShaiGar]

about the time of an episode to watch XD

I'd set Episode 302 to download, watch episode 301, set episode 303 to download, watch epside 302... i'd do that all night.

now unfortunately there's a huge lapse in the episodes.

[yondyr]

ahh thanks, out of the question for me. Too many mb's. Being remote, I'm on satellite by courtesy of a govt grant (shock horror, I took advantage of the socialism I abhor :) ) but $49 per month only buys me 1gb. Enjoy (spoilt brat :laugh: )

[Timdotz]

I used to use Limewire, but I stopped after it started to accumulate trash. I recommend everyone to torrents for large collections, and google the terms "rapidshare" and whatever artist/album you're looking for. It works very well and is very fast and effective way.

I personally never spend a cent on music, as there is no possible way of knowing whether or not a fraction of my money goes to the actual artists, and I'm a student anyway.. but I wouldnt mind helping out some artists if I had the chance.

[HackerX]

I personally never spend a cent on music, as there is no possible way of knowing whether or not a fraction of my money goes to the actual artists, and I'm a student anyway.. but I wouldnt mind helping out some artists if I had the chance.

Gigs and tshirts!