Anyone else have random Problems with Legally Downloaded Music?

[simmer2]

Just found out about this Russian website www.mp3sparks.com. I guess it's the sequel to www.allofmp3.com because that one got banned.

I'm not sure what to think about downloading music off this website. In Russia the website is legal, but in the States it isn't. Just wondering if there are any people who use this as a downloading source and what they think of it.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by simmer2

Just found out about this Russian website www.mp3sparks.com. I guess it's the sequel to www.allofmp3.com because that one got banned.

I'm not sure what to think about downloading music off this website. In Russia the website is legal, but in the States it isn't. Just wondering if there are any people who use this as a downloading source and what they think of it.

well i used allofmp3 and was quite happy with it. only ever used it for stuff i couldn't find anywhere else (legally or not) and it was great for that. but for more common music you might as well just use a torrent site, because the legality is the same

[Dion]

Originally Posted by troutman

I remember taping songs off CKXL with a crappy cassette player in the 1970s.

I did the same thing back then

[FlamesPuck12]

Originally Posted by jar_e

It's not illegal to download, but it is, to my knowledge, illegal to upload.

Can anyone confirm that? So as long as I don't upload, downloading is legal in Canada?

[REDVAN]

^^^^^ That's what I tell myself to help me sleep better at night.

That being said, I like to download for free a lot of music, but if I can't find it for free I will buy it at iTunes. And in even more of a rare case, I will buy a real CD because I really like the band so I want the actual copy.

I am also thinking about backing up my music because right now I don't have it backed up and so I don't want to lose it! I have never had a problem with iTunes so maybe you have some other virus or something in there. I don't use anything else for music files.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Chobyhy

Can anyone confirm that? So as long as I don't upload, downloading is legal in Canada?

It hasn't been tested in court.

The opinions I've read said they believe prosecuting someone uploading would probably result in a conviction, but until it is actually tried there is no way to know for sure.

The way things stand right now, I don't think there ever will be any charges for uploading music. Most ISPs have fought to avoid being forced to supply customer names associated to IP addresses, and the sheer effort to litigate this to conclusion would be of questionable benefit.

Video is a whole different ball game. It is not legal to upload or download video. There haven't been any court cases to validate that opinion, but the reasoning behind the legality of audio downloads is that there is a levy collected with every blank recording media sold (cassettes and CDs) to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars. This money is in an account to be distributed to parties affected by music piracy. However, there is no equivalent levy to pay back parties affected by video piracy. And I doubt the networks or movie studios want a levy, they want to shut the practice down. They learned from the music industry that a levy makes things legal to download.

Interestingly, the CRIA, Canadian Recording Industry Association (which all the actual Canadian companies have pulled out of, and now only consists of the Canadian arm of multinationals), actually wants to have the laws changed to make downloading music illegal, similar to the US, but still collect the levy.

[Barnes]

There is some news floating around that Universal has signed a deal to offer drm free mp3s through a service called g box. Not sure how credible the site is since its Internet Exploder only right now.

If this is true Steve Jobs is gonna poop a brick.

[Juventus3]

Originally Posted by Barnes

There is some news floating around that Universal has signed a deal to offer drm free mp3s through a service called g box. Not sure how credible the site is since its Internet Exploder only right now.

If this is true Steve Jobs is gonna poop a brick.

To mean it would be taken OFF itunes? I don't see that happening...

or would DRM versions still be up? I really dont care about DRM, it doesn't affect how I listen to the music I download.

[HOOT]

Wait a minute you can legally download music? What is this world coming to

[Regorium]

I think this kind of thing is even worse for video games and applications.

If you go the legal route, you buy the piece of software, and depending on how they worked on their anti-piracy scheme, there are rootkits, spyware, malware, CD-keys (that can go missing), original CD checks. On more expensive software, you sometimes have to actually call the company and verify with them face to face. With all this, there is a high probability of verification servers being down, CD keys being wrong, bugs, errors, phone operator availability etc.

Obviously none of this has stopped the pirating community. If you go this route, you just download the game, install it, copy the crack over, and play/use.

I don't think I would ever legally download music if I even liked any of it (I'm not a music fan much). It'd be too big of a hassle to keep track of how many mp3 players you've actually copied the track to. Also hard drive crashes would completely ruin your collection. Ugh.

[Bobblehead]

An interesting thing is happening tomorrow.

Google Video is shutting down their movie service. The upshot is that people who puchased movies (or anything) through this service will no longer be able to play them (the keys are being revolked).

Google is offering coupons as reimbursement, although those coupons can only be used through their Google Wallet service.

So here is a case where people purchased media, but because the company wasn't able to make the service a success, all content purchased legally by customers will now be lost.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...umvention.html