Legal Music Downloading Dilemma

I've been forced to get rid of ALL my music I'd had stored on my computer...because my parents read some article about everyone getting taken to court for having illegal music on their computers ("well if grandmas and grandpas are being arrested, why couldn't YOU"---ehrg). I need to find a Completely Legal website or program or something that offers MP3s. I am willing to pay for a subscription, but I would like the least expensive/highest performance available. The problem is, I *so* am not a techie, I have no idea what all the terminology means ("gnutella, kazzaa" etc.) and none of the websites I've looked at so far (Bearshare; MP3.com) seem to say anything about whether they're legal or not.

Can anyone help me?

I really don't think you are going to find a legal site, since the main aim of the music industry is to make money. I am of the personal belief that it is okay to download the occasional single, but if you want the album you should have to pay for it. I think the record companies should get together and 'perhaps' work out a deal where people do pay a subscription fee, but then this would cut out the middle man: the retail store. I think it is commendable that you are taking note of what your parents said and that they took note of what has happened to somebody else with regards to downloading music. I also think it is commendable that you are willing to pay a subscription fee when so many people I know get on their high horse about having to hand over money. I also think it is good that, at last, somebody is policing mp3 piracy. It's really hard you know because i think people should be able to download a little for free, but 1000's and 1000's of songs seems ridiculous to me. Downloading also works as a promotional tool, for example, if you download a song and like it you might decide to go out and buy the CD. Sorry about the rave, but music downloading is a thing i feel very passionately about as i work in the music industry and see artists robbed of their just deserves every day! Perhaps the powers that be should enact legislation (or whatever) that you are allowed to have a certain amount of downloaded music on your computer (500mbs worth or something) and that anything that exceeds that is deemed prosecutable.

Good luck on your search anyway.

LOL.

your parents forced you?

people got sued. wow

i think really that they have no right to arrest anyone because mp3 players now adays come with ripping software to "rip" songs to your computer. and i think its ridiculous if they promote mp3 players with such softwares if they continue to take legal suits against illegal mp3 owners. its like giving a prisoner a key to his cell.
they have to arrest the rest of the world to stop this butter.

I hate the music industry, they are evil!!!!

It's a large problem with college students. In Boston, BC (boston college)and MIT filed a counter law suit because so many of their students were getting sewed for having music files on their computers. They are saying it's an invasion of the student's privacy, which I agree with completely. Unfortunately BU isn't joining that stance... It's just so tempting with high speed connections at college... I've never had a fast enough connection to download mp3s before... oh well... My friend's going to RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), and she mentioned this one kid from her school who the court just took away 12000 $ from in one of these court cases... What he had actually done is create a program which searched the school network, not specifically for mp3 and music files, but just a general search program. The problem was that people were using this program to got the sound files... and they were going to sew him for between 75000 and 100000 dollars for EACH song that the students had gotten using his search engine. However, they settled to take his life savings, which was 12000 $ . I'm sorry, I have to support free transfer of information... Including music files... It's just interesting, because I know a lot of people who download really interesting music. I mean, half the stuff I would never have even known existed if it wasn't for the fact I could get to it on the internet...

Question to Libragirl: you work for the music indurstry, I'm just wondering about the rights to songs. When an artist signs a record contract, the record label gets the rights to the songs on ther record, right?

I feel passionately about this: People who sue college students are jerks. College students have no money, and that lawsuit was worth four times my own life savings, without which I would not be going to college (I've already given up the other half of my savings so far to my cars, their frequent breakdowns, and to college itself.) I also have about a gig of music from before they sued Napster...well, okay, maybe about half that with another 500MB from afterwards...but I'm a musician and songwriter hopeful, and were I to ever get hired I would just plain want people to listen to my music.

An ex of mine once said, in all her wisdom, that life wasn't all peaches and cream. (Great flavor though.)

I personally think that Phoenix should be held legally accountable for all her actions and should do what she wants to do, regardless of what her parents say. She's a big girl; smart one too.

I also wonder, how in the world are police finding or deciding who to arrest for mp3 ownership? Everybody's got at least some nowadays, it's gotta be like picking people out of a hat to sue. I bet even the police have mp3s and download software- heck, they've got all the narcotics that have ever been confiscated in the history of the industry.

I think one of the reasons they are picking college students, the bastards, is because they may be using the school ethernet to download music, which is a trackable connection...

true. but i know and feel that u know most artist get just
5% of the money. not just ehm are the poeple who work there what about the popele

Well i guess there are billion sides to the story as usual. I didn't know they were targeting college students, i suppose they do this because a) their computers may be more traceable, especially if they are using the University computers, and b) because University/college students are probably the main cohort who do this sort of thing. Of course it sucks that college students, who are the least likely to afford penalties, get busted but i suppose society makes rules for everyone, rich and poor, and we all have to abide by them. Also, the record companies would be wanting to make an example of people to discourage others from downloading. I believe music should be for free but unfortunately some people need to make a living from it and i know for a fact that some of the smaller artists are struggling because of internet downloads. It's okay to think "yeah, I'm glad for anybody to listen to my music" etc... but it costs money, and lots of it, to produce a song, little lone an album, and of broadcast quality. Basically the less money the artist makes, the poorer quality their next album will be, or it may not happen at all. Record companies are a business, and unfortunately like any business, they need to make money. I'm not sure how much $ $ $ the artists get as they are all on different deals, but there is a lot of money that goes into marketing and production: this doesn't come cheap, so i suppose a % of the sales goes into that.

I know it's a pretty hard line to draw - when is it okay to download and when is it not? For example, people like Madonna surely have made so much money that they don't need anymore... but then you have to look at all the work she has done to get to where she is and just because she is loaded doesn't mean she should miss out on continued profit due to downloads.

In order for society to run, and for enterprise to continue, money needs to be fed back in. It's like a well, if you keep taking from it, it will dry up.

I'm not on my high horse about this, infact, i can't even be bothered arguing about it. Just get out into the real world, break your balls for a dollar, and then tell me the artist doesn't deserve the money. Go and do a shift for free and tell me you enjoyed it!

I agree Lgirl they need to make a living also. Its stealing someone elses work.

sorry i had to get off at my last post. i aggre that yeah they earned. it's simple. u know u make some sort of discory and copyright it u get all rights and royaltyies to the sale and production of the same with music. u sell ur image, ur music, and most of all ur voice and what u have to say or speak of.