P2P File Swapping on the Rise Again? 319
asdf 101 writes "News.com reports today that 'After six months of declines, peer-to-peer usage recently climbed 14 percent.' Their bottomline: 'The decline came as the RIAA launched more than 300 lawsuits against file swappers. The reversal cast doubts on the music industry's claims that its lawsuits are working to deter people from illegally downloading music files.' I guess wake_up_and_smell_the_coffee time just gets that much more imminent for all the hacks at RIAA." There's also an AP story, and you might want to review this story from just a few weeks ago that has different conclusions.
What?! You mean (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What?! You mean (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What?! You mean (Score:5, Informative)
We now return you to your regular uninformed slashdot comments.
Re:What?! You mean (Score:2, Offtopic)
My post, on the other hand, is off-topic. But, I have karma to burn!!!
Re:What?! You mean (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What?! You mean (Score:5, Interesting)
Article summary (Score:3, Insightful)
Wake up and smell the coffee for what? The realization that people are going to illegally pirate your product no matter how much you pursue them legally?
When they were trying to shut down p2p programs, all the Slashdotters went on and on about how they should be going after individual users. Then when they started doing that, suddenly the RIAA is the bad guy again.
When does pirating become so widespread that nobody can make any money anymore? A
Re:Article summary (Score:4, Insightful)
If what you're saying comes true, then YES many people are going to lose money, but I don't think it'll be the (genuinely good) artists. Instead, I'm willing to bet that they'll be paid like they were for thousands of years in the past--as performers. Besides, in all honesty, doesn't that make more sense than them attempting to be the sole "owners" of an intangible object that can be copied and distributed for little to no cost?
I for one, won't miss the RIAA one bit, either way. They ARE the bad guy. They cheat nearly every artist that you've ever heard of. They piss money away on circumventing the laws via payolla. And then as if to add insult to injury, the money they do give the artists usually comes in the form of loans. Take TLC, for instance, here was a band making millions of dollars in profit (not gross) and the artists, after all of their record company's swindling, were making about 20,000 per year individually.
As for your last statement, I love PC games. I, in fact, almost exclusively play PC games, but you're right, I haven't bought a PC game in awhile. Reason being: MOST of the games out right now suck. Apart from Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne, I haven't played a PC game that isn't generic or bug-ridden for awhile. Just give it some time, though. I GAURANTEE you 2004 will be the year PC games make a huge return. Again, it's not because of a lack of piracy, but there's a bunch of GREAT games coming out. To name a few: World of Warcraft, Doom III, Unreal Tournament 2004, Half-life 2, Counterstrike: Condition Zero. These are games that are going to pwn, and I plan on owning every one. (And this is after not buying a PC game for about 6 months.)
These issues have less to do with piracy like the RIAA and failing gaming companies would have you believe. In a world where nobody takes responsibility, this can be expected. I mean, it's easier to believe that your product isn't selling because of theft than it is to say it sucked. And the former certainly sounds better to stockholders and the media.
Piracy is an excuse. Unfortunately, some people (like the parent poster) have fallen for it.
-Grym
It depends on who you ask... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd like to know, though, which P2P networks they're watching... (my apologies if it says so in the article, this is
Re:It depends on who you ask... (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't say exactly which networks are monitored, just:
NPD uses two tools to monitor peer-to-peer activity. MusicWatch Digital is a tool that continuously examines PCs of roughly 40,000 participating individuals, recording which sites they have gone to and what they have downloaded on their hard drives. The ongoing survey has been compiling and analyzing data on a monthly basis since April 2003. The second tool, called MusicLab, is a traditional paper survey mailed to 5,000 individuals asking them to report their usage and Web surfing. The results represent the U.S. population.
There are bound to be variations, and yes, it definately does depend on who you ask. This is perhaps as "neutral" as they come though.
Re:It depends on who you ask... (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess the fact that the numbers are going up again is mildly interesting, but I don't see that you can draw many conclusions the earllier drop in recorded p2p use. "Not telling" is at least as likely as "not doing". Promises of anonymity or not, it's human nature.
Re:It depends on who you ask... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It depends on who you ask... (Score:5, Interesting)
1. This is not seasonally adjusted. OK, reliable seasonal adjustment is not easy in usch a small data set, but comparing November to Septemer is a misnomer. In November college students have got they computer systems set up and want some entertainment but September they're just starting out and havn't got their computers set up (and the whole April-September season they're working or on holiday). How about some quantitive statistics so YoY% growth can discount seasonality.
2. I have noticed a serious decline (this is a personal observation, not any scientific analysis) in my turnover in several key P2P networks recently. Since Kazaa acted against KazzaLite clients and servers on the Kazaa network seem to have significantly fallen (thoug the population stats in the client browser show similar numbers as before), I suspect Kazaa implemted an update on the protocol, but don't have any details. On eDonkey it is increasingly hard to et a connection, let alone a decent DL rate, but ULs are saturated. On WinMX there has been a decline in availibility of most files. I would like to know the cause of these changes (it can't all be a updated implementation on Kazaa and a contagion effect on other protocols can it?!).
Re:It depends on who you ask... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It depends on who you ask... (Score:3, Funny)
Ya know, reading the article is easier than it sounds...there's even a link to it in the story above - all you have to do is click!
And yes, I think they do know about all those things you mention.
I, for one, have stopped (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I, for one, have stopped (Score:5, Insightful)
the only new Cd's I buy have been from IUMA artist and other indie bands I have found online and at their concerts.
do I download music on a p2p netowrk? hell yeah. but then I buy that used CD to get a better copy of the recording.
I suggest that EVERYONE buy used cd's only whenever possible. it will help a small business in your area, plus it will smack the RIAA in a way that royally pains them but they can do nothing about.
You're still helping the RIAA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:You're still helping the RIAA (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I, for one, have stopped (Score:4, Interesting)
The fact that you and others buy used CDs creates a secondary market upon which primary CD buyers can rely upon to exist. Therefore, they're more likely to buy CDs in the first place and later on as they use the money from selling their CDs to used CD shops. The net result is increase sales. Hypothetically, used CD sales are a net loss as the total times the CD is sold decreases the net profit per sale. Hypothetically, also, CD makers make more as the used CD sales allow for CD makers to have a higher initial markup as the cutting-edge buyers pay a premium price and even buy a lot more CDs than they'll keep, selling most to used CD shops.
The sad part about this is the latter occurs with the real cost of production (excluding markup, which amounts to the price) is cheaper than used CD prices, and pirating CDs is even cheaper. The whole point of the used market, I always thought, was about selling objects that are in worse condition for a cheaper price than retail. But with intellectual property, you're selling a right to the work which is independent of the media it is pressed into, so why are used copyrighted works cheaper (realizing that most people wouldn't want to buy a used CD that doesn't play properly)?
Re:I, for one, have stopped (Score:3, Insightful)
Want to find a used store, here's a huge list... (Score:3, Interesting)
RecordStoreReview.com [recordstorereview.com]
Most have pictures and reviews so you know where to go at a glance.
Re:I, for one, have stopped (Score:5, Interesting)
You have reduced your liquidity, but actually retained net value, thus, in a sense, obtained the music for "free."
And as a piece of property you retain all legal property rights, such as resale (see above), to use wherever and in whatever playback device you wish, the right to loan, the right to make backups for personal use, The right to use as a frickin' frisbee or wall covering if you want.
Yes, I buy used books too. Lots and lots and lots of used books. Dirt cheap at library sales. Sometimes very expensive used books, because they're out of print and the publisher refuses to sell me a copy anyway.
What happens when your favorite download site withdraws part of the library? I've got stuff from mp3.com. Stuff that I think is outrageously good.
I'd give you a link, but. .
Protect your right to consider your own property your own property. Buy used CDs and books.
You might even be doing your part to protect the intellectual property itself.
KFG
Re:I, for one, have stopped (Score:5, Funny)
I am a blacksmith and this is been a major issue with our industry. The rise of used hammers is far scarier than outright piracy.
Re:I, for one, have stopped (Score:5, Insightful)
oh because nobody would ever buy your games again because of that inane attitude?
and you know buying a used car is only one small step above car theft, it steals money from the car makers.
Oh and don't buy anything off e-bay, as you are stealing from all those manufacturers...
I have heard this argument from software people before.. It's the same as how people that continue to use an old version of the software they bought 5 years ago are stealing from the programmers and software developers.
If you truthfully feel that way, then I pity you as you have a dismal outlook on life.
Socialists (Score:5, Insightful)
"Free market" in this country sure looks an awful lot like old soviet socialism. It's no wonder they can't put a dent in "piracy" when the companies claiming to be "victims" look just as evil as Ivan and Boris that run the Ukrainian pressing plants...
Re:Socialists (Score:5, Interesting)
At the same time Wal-Mart pays its employees low hourly wages it also makes sure they are all considered "part time" as much as possible, thereby relieving themselves of the burden of providing them any sort of benefits whatsoever. Of course, those employees do still get healthcare coverage - the friendly bosses at wallyworld make sure their workers get complete instructions on how to apply for public assistance. So not only does wally get a nice fat piece of land at no cost, he also gets a workforce whose health is maintained by subsidies from the local taxpayers. Wallyworld provides nothing at all to our national defense or anything else - it's just a bank account getting fatter off the labor of a government subsidized workforce. It's corporatized socialism.
By what stretch are these two organizations even remotely comparable?
The artist got their money. (Score:4, Interesting)
Not arbitrary at all. (Score:4, Insightful)
Taxation is something completely different. It obviously is arbitrary because a goverment just decides it needs to take some money and comes up with some rules to do it.
I haven't used p2p in months (Score:5, Informative)
I'll keep going until the companies that support the RIAA are bankrupted or they relent with their assault on fair use rights.
Re:I haven't used p2p in months (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do we assume that P2P networks are only being used by college students who want porn and music... could there perhaps be professionals in the industry out there too?
Re:I haven't used p2p in months (Score:3, Informative)
I'll say no more, but there is a link to the mini-interview in my sig (or Journal).
Re:I haven't used p2p in months (Score:3, Interesting)
Mod files were incredible 10 years ago and are still pretty good today. I'm a little surprised that it never really caught on (which is too bad). I guess marketing does matter. Imagine one of those cheapo 64M USB flash drive / mp3 players (~$50USD) that could play mods. Since they're a lot of them around that are 100k or less that's a lot of music. Plus they transfer so much better than mp3s over a slow connection.
The parent posting was enough for me star
Re:I haven't used p2p in months (Score:3, Funny)
Meh. Why not just record over one of those talking greeting cards with 3.8 seconds of your favorite music, and take that with you? So much more compact, and less expensive too... sure it's not the best sound and it doesn't hold much, but it's better than waiting to transfer those enormous mp3 files, right?
Re:I haven't used p2p in months (Score:3, Informative)
It never really stopped (Score:5, Insightful)
What the RIAA doesn't seem to realize is that, people are able to block certain IP addresses in many of the client programs. Thus, when the RIAA goes online looking for traffic, they see fewer clients.
The other thing they don't seem to realize is that, there's more to "illegal file sharing" than Kazaa. It could be that people have cut down on their Kazaa use and have gone to other P2P programs.
Re:It never really stopped (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, but this only works because their computer is BROADCASTING AN IP ADDRESS!
Re:It never really stopped (Score:5, Insightful)
1) a sizable amount of P2P users even know that there is addons to block IP's.
2) those blockers work. RIAA just need to sit on a public network used by thousands of others and they'll either need to block an entire general network not solely intended for RIAA usage, or they'll simply miss to block RIAA's activities
Re:It never really stopped (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It never really stopped (Score:2)
But if some company do both research and work for RIAA they would probably get blocked sooner or later. But the system ain'y exacly bulletproof. It's not ment to be that either.
An idea . . . (Score:2, Funny)
reversal doesn't (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the legal reversal pertaining to Verizon having to hand over its members' information to the RIAA could explain such a rise. People are more likely to fileshare if they think the RIAA is less likely to be knocking on their door tomorrow. If anything, the lawsuits seemed to be "working" before that Verizon ruling.
Out of sight out of mind (Score:5, Insightful)
Scare tactics only work when you are scaring people. That's why the law suits won't work in the long term. You'd not only need new lawsuits all the time but you'd need the press to continue to be bothered to write about them. Otherwise for 99% of people they effectively aren't happening and there's nothing to worry about.
Statistics are dangerous (Score:4, Insightful)
Statistics are dangerous in the hands of people who may have a certain agenda to push. For example, saying that filesharing goes up 14% could simply imply that more new computer and/or Internet users have signed online to find previews of their favorite music artists' songs. Also, it's very possible that the way these companies conduct these studies of the popularity of file sharing could simply have changed a bit. If one month they're monitoring seven different filesharing networks for their statistics, and they suddenly add an eighth to the mix, the numbers are obviously going to increase.
We need to stop worrying about these silly RIAA lawsuits and about the ethics of filesharing and simply realize that the current music distribution model is horrible. The CD/album is not popular anymore; artists are fueled by hit singles much more so than hit albums. Things like Apple's iPod/iTunes service, while expensive, are a good first step to delivering media content the way people wish to receive it.
Stop letting the media tell you what to do. If you want to use peer to peer software, use it. There's nothing wrong with sharing songs with friends/associates in my opinion, and it only helps to spread the word about music artists and make them and their merchandise more popular. Sharing file is as natural an act as sexual intercourse between a man and woman/man and a man/woman and a woman, so the days of prosecuting it are definitely numbered, and it'll be as laughable in 20 years time as the article 2 nodes down on the Slashdot front page about VCR taping regulations.
Have fun with life and be responsible, but at the same time don't worry about the evil bit devil at the other end of your cable connection reading your data that flows to and fro your machine. There will soon be better options, and hopefully moves like HP licensing Apple iTunes technology, as well as other things, will make the online movies/music environment better than ever.
Do all these statistics really show anything... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Do all these statistics really show anything... (Score:2)
Re:Do all these statistics really show anything... (Score:2)
Read tha here some time ago.
--
Ask Your Candidates About Copyright Reform (Score:5, Insightful)
How about making copyright reform a central issue in the upcoming election?
Very likely most politicians don't know if the DMCA is fit to eat, feel Disney and the RIAA are important campaign contributors whose requests should be given priority, and music downloaders are simple thieves who deserve every bit of punishment they get.
You can change that. But it's going to take some work. There are enough people sharing music in America - more people than voted for George Bush - that if you get off your collective asses and get politically active, you can get laws passed to get the RIAA off your back.
In Change the Law [goingware.com], I explain that copyright is not a Constitutional right, like free speech. Instead copyright is allowed (but not required) to serve a useful purpose, a purpose which I feel has long since outlived its usefulness.
I suggest steps you can take to bring about copyright reform, ranging from speaking out [goingware.com] to practicing civil disobedience [goingware.com].
One thing I'd like you all to do today is to write your elected representatives [goingware.com] to ask their opinion of the current state of copyright law given its widespread abuse by organizations like the RIAA and MPAA, and to urge them to work towards copyright reform. Let them know your vote will depend on a positive response.
When you're done writing that letter, write to the other candidates for each office in the upcoming elections, to ask them the same question.
Sixty million American peer-to-peer file traders have the potential to raise a lot of Hell with the politicians. I want every candidate to be peppered with questions about copyright reform at every campaign stop and in every press interview. I want the repeal of the DMCA to be discussed in the Presidential debates.
People marched in protest when Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested. Dmitry is free now - but the law under which he was jailed is still on the books.
If you agree with me that something needs to be done about copyright, I need your help [goingware.com].
Thank you for your attention.
Re:Ask Your Candidates About Copyright Reform (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't underestimate the value of what this guy is proposing. If the average American doesn't know about this issue, it's because we're not doing our job to educate them. Nobody I know is pleased that the industries are going to use this law to control what we're going to be able to tape off our TV sets, and most of them are pretty average people.
Of course people get bored or confused when we present them with a bunch of technical/legal bullshit, as has been our collec
60 million p2p file traders can raise a big ruckus (Score:2)
That's why I wrote my article [goingware.com] - I think that there are enough people using peer-to-peer networks that if they were all to be educated a little politically, and encouraged to make copyright reform an issue, that they can make the candidates take them seriously.
However, as popular as my article is, it's not
They'll never figure it out (Score:5, Insightful)
The first thing from the article that caught my eye was the timing. So the usage declined right around the time all the college students started exams and then went home. Then it picked up again in September...just in time for school to start again.
Next...just what is "usage"? It doesn't specify mp3s, video, documents...nothing. It just says usage. Yet the RIAA will assume it's all mp3s and go nuts again.
There will never be a way to truly determine why usage drops and rises. The RIAA likes to say "it's because we're educating the public", news sources like to say "it's because everyone is afraid of the RIAA's lawsuits", music download companies (ie, iTunes, Napster, etc) like to say "it's because of our services and people would rather get legitimate copies". Nobody knows. This battle will rage for years, we'll see different theories on why it rises and drops, and people will continue to download their files whenever and however they want.
And in all this.... (Score:3, Interesting)
That's the one factor they can't stop. Napster was the pain treshold.. since then, they've done a lot of stuff to make it harder - but in the end, it just keeps getting easier... it's like fighting the tide.
Kjella
Re:They'll never figure it out (Score:2)
Possibly... but perhaps the result of that fear was a decreased willingness to admit P2P usage to the survey organization rather than any actual change in usage... and then as it was widely reported the the lawsuits primarilly were targetting people sharing large collections, the statistics became less skewed (more accurate)
Patterns of behavior (such as downloading music) are much more resistant to change than the level of honesty on a survey when face
Legal File Sharing (Score:2, Interesting)
4 million online at Kazaa (Score:3, Informative)
Can RIAA sue them all? There is strength in numbers. People would not take them seriously, if the chance of getting caught is next to nothing (if you don't share your entire HD worth of britney sphere =b)
P2P is only one aspect of file-swapping (Score:3, Interesting)
As a side note, I haven't touched anything but iTMS in almost a year (come April). Why would you want to pirate when there are great *legal* alternatives available?
My sharing has gone up (Score:5, Interesting)
I now bittorrent most stuff, and use Aquisition (OS X) for the most part.
According to everything I see, filesharing on the Mac is pretty much under the radar, which is fine by me.
Of course, I have a giant FTP server that serves everything I've ever downloaded, ratio free. I only give the addy/name/password to people I know, and that keeps leeches away, as well as the xxAAs. I freely share it all with people who need something. Why not? I know what I'm doing is against the law, but frankly everyone you know does something against the law everyday, whether they know it or not.
This is just my bit of civil disobediece. I'm posting this anon so I don't have a pile of emails asking for access.
Probability of getting sued (Score:5, Interesting)
I think people are still taking steps to limit their own personal risk (in the article this is reflected by It's important to keep in mind that file sharing is occurring less frequently than before the RIAA began its legal efforts to stem the tide of P2P). However, looking at people I know, I think a significant number of them who completely stopped filesharing when the RIAA started to file lawsuits are starting to do so again. My theory on this is that they've noticed that all of the people they know who still use p2p have not gotten sued, so they've concluded that some p2p usage is probably safe. This empirical result makes sense given the large number of p2p users, and the proportionaly limited number of lawsuits the RIAA has been able to file. Note that, this doesn't mean that p2p services are necessarily safe, it just means that for the majority of the population it appears that they are less dangerous then they might have thought they were a few months ago.
Underground (Score:2, Interesting)
just pushed things further underground. Small networks consisting of trusted ssh users and sneaker net via usb2.0 external drives is the most common way of moving media around here and no one has to worry about RIAA and friends seeing what's going on.
Statistics can prove anything... (Score:4, Insightful)
70 % of people i spoke to agree to this post with 100% of them being imagined.
Count me among new file sharers (Score:5, Interesting)
Prior to this year, I had very little experience with file sharing. I always thought it took too long, required too much effort and I didn't want to worry about poor rips at low bitrates. I thought both sides have their collective heads up their collective asses. Traders whining about copyright law vs theft and the music industry doing everything they can to destroy themselves. I don't know what's more annoying, people saying that they steal because music is overpriced, or label executives saying that traders will put low-level employees out of business. Show me that trailer with the stuntman again and I'll barf! Plus, I liked to point out that just about every complete album I downloaded I ended up purchasing. It seemed like P2P was a non-issue and both sides were idiots.
Then I got sick over the holidays and ended up hanging out in bed. After my third straight day of Bond movies on Spike, I decided to see how long it would take to download Pitchfork's [pitchforkmedia.com] Top 50 Singles of 2003 on a P2P network. By the end of the night I had the complete list, and suddenly the challenge was "How long would it take to download their top 50 ALBUMS of the year.
In the last two weeks I've downloaded nearly 50 CDs (Only six of them were on Pitchfork's list). Many have been out of print albums, but many more have been straight-up recent commercial releases. The quality is awesome and modern software enables you to queue up a long list of files and forget about it.
I now see what the RIAA has been so afraid of. Just a few weeks ago I was spending $50 a week on CDs. Now I drive by a record store and think "What sort of chump pays for music?" I don't download because music is expensive -- I download because it's too freakin' EASY. If one of their strongest customers is so easily turned, what's up with the casual consumer. The media companies are screwed.
Re:Count me among new file sharers (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Count me among new file sharers (Score:4, Insightful)
I can remember a time when a town of ten thousand souls would have at least one, and usually two, independent record shops. They were usually run by music enthusiasts, and what they didn't have they would get. If you ordered a record and found you didn't like it, no problem, it just got returned to the distributor. Of course all this changed a couple of decades ago when the distibutors decided that they didn't like taking returns back.
Now small independents only exists in towns of at least twenty thousand, and they almost all rely on the sale of used records/CD's to remain viable. I'd love to support my local store, but there isn't one, unless you count the local superstore with its limited selection.
I'm afraid the dark days have been with us for years. The smallest stores have been disappearing for years. Now your size of store is now the smallest and likely to go next. I wish that were not the case, but it is. Unfortunately the music business is dominated by philistines who know how to extract cash from culture, but know not how to nourish culture.
Re:Count me among new file sharers (Score:2)
Up until recently, I owned an additional 400 cassettes, but they degraded so much over time that I eventually had to pitch them after several unsuccessful attempts to record them as MP3s.
Funnily enough I'm in the middle of transferring around couple of hundred cassettes to CD, it's a long process. The ones that I'm transferring are mostly rare Celtic works and they are almost all in very good condition. The reason for that is that these tapes were usually of much higher quality than those put out by th
Yet still.. (Score:3, Insightful)
So your music experience could be even *easier* yet. What if, instead of it taking to the end of the night to find and download Pitchfork's Top 50 Singles of 2003, it only took you a couple of hours, and you knew before-hand that everything you downloaded would be great quality and fully complete. Would you consider paying for that?
Now, on top of that, what if, once y
Decline of Individual Music File Sharing... (Score:5, Informative)
As a quick check visit top 100 lists such as Pitchfork top 50 of 2003 [pitchforkmedia.com], which contains sub-pop music flavors. Now search for the albums on edonkey networks with clients or FileDonkey [filedonkey.com]. It's amazing to see so many RARs and ZIPs.
Less fakes, more helpful comments, better hashing, etc... at least for time being.
Am I being watched? (Score:4, Interesting)
It ought to be on the rise. Goodbye RIAA. (Score:4, Insightful)
They have also critically damaged people's sympathy to them. If 100 year copyrights were not bad enough, threatening 12 year olds and grandparents was. Few people have any sympathy for publishers who are making money off dead artists, artists they hardly pay and stuff they could have recorded off the radio 40 years ago. Everyone knows that music recorded in 1902 paid for itself by 1903 and the big publishers are nothing but greedy control freaks.
The continued rise of file sharing spells the end of the 5 big dumb music publishers. Music is being libreated from it's comercial clutches and all sorts of wonderful acts will flourish and profit without those goons in the way. People basking in a variety of music and cultural service the comercial world never delivered will not put RIAA chains back on. They will understand they were right and when the money goes from the RIAA, so too goes their propaganda and fewer and fewer people will be mislead. Good riddance.
I know for one that I have changed p2p app (Score:5, Interesting)
My preferred client is Bittorrent++ [sourceforge.net].
Now, if you like to download stuff in an environment that kinda reminds me of the ol audiogalaxy days I strongly recommend you try out Suprnova.org [suprnova.org]. Obviosly this is still subjective to riaa 'snooping' as the clients dont appear to support ip range banning, but since they are Open source, anyone can be free to implement any sort of riaa spoofing/protection.
Re:I know for one that I have changed p2p app (Score:3, Interesting)
Frankly, Bittorrent++'s GUI is too slow for my taste, and I don't think it's based on the latest BT protocol. These are BT clients I recommend:
Re:I know for one that I have changed p2p app (Score:2)
Yeah, or RIAA can work on public networks...
Also, how do the writers of these block lists even know that they're blocking the RIAA hosts used to scan file sharers?
Those IP range blockers always seemed like a stab in the dark to me, only offering a false feeling of security.
Look at the Sales Figures (Score:5, Informative)
I couldn't find any year-end figures, but here's a look at the RIAA's own sales figures (pdf) [svenrox.com] for the first half of 2003. Notice that CD sales were down 14% from the previous year. Apparently the wave of lawsuits launched in April had no immediate effect on CD sales. However, look at the sales of CD singles. Up 162% ! ! !
Unless I'm crazy, the fact that music sales in album form are down and in singles form are up might indicate that people want to decide which songs they pay for, instead of being forced to buy a few good songs along with a lot of filler.
People have been trying to tell the record industry this for quite a while. With hard evidence in the form of actual money, do you think they still have no clue why their profits in recent years have declined? It's because of their own outdated marketing rather than "piracy."
According to this article in the Register [theregister.co.uk] music sales overall for 2003 fell only 0.8% below 2002. They credit a big rise in music videos on DVD, but the RIAA will no doubt be singing the praises of their legal crusade. Reminds me of Caligula ordering his army to fight back the incoming tide.
Canute (Score:3, Informative)
Canute [google.com]. Caligula [straightdope.com] was the sister fucker [google.com].
Singles figures - online music stores? (Score:3, Interesting)
No more mass subpoenas (Score:3, Interesting)
Why Don't Lawsuits INCREASE Traffic? (Score:4, Interesting)
Now the theory is that they announce these things and people get scared that if they use a P2P they'll get sued right?
Well when are the more likely to find people to sue? When they haven't done it for a while, or the day after they file a suit and are busy with legal stuff? I'm thinking that the time immediatly after the suits are announce would be the SAFEST time to use a P2P service.
Escapology 101 (Score:5, Interesting)
I suspect people have taken to downloading files, keeping them a few days or weeks on their shared volumes and then deleting... many people have always done this, when you get a file you help a few more people get it, then delete the shared copy to reduce the likelihood of legal action against yourself
in other words P2P has become more distributed.. more multiply redundant. Less legally actionable.
RIAA, and your counterparts here in Europe. We're the people who you have to thank if you wake up in the morning: everything in your comfy leather-lined world relies on IT support.
Don't screw with us. You'll lose.
The More You Tighten Your Grip... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The More You Tighten Your Grip... (Score:3, Funny)
You may sue when ready.
Students... (Score:5, Interesting)
The RIAA was trying to spin the end of semester as a win for their cause...but as soon as they released the info, I'm sure they realized the error of their ways...it was only going to last for about a month...
So, why are all schools not blocking P2P??? Because, when you start blocking ports you start to take responsibility for what your users are doing (block KaZaA because it's "bad" and you have to block gnutella too)...most schools are simply throtling the most popular P2P ports...which isn't keeping students from downloading...
Your Public Library has CDs (Score:5, Insightful)
Your local public library has CDs that you can borrow, usually for a week or so, absolutely free.
Some of the more sophisticated libraries allow you to search and request titles online, so that a CD that's at a library twenty miles away, or currently checked out by someone else, will be sent to your nearest library as soon as it is available. Some libraries will send an email to let you know that your titles have arrived.
Library CDs are often pretty beat up, and many are missing the original booklets or jewel cases, but they will still play in a good player. You can even do your library a favor and use some of that CD repair glop on them so future borrowers can enjoy them as well (assuming that stuff actually works).
Now, I don't advocate that anyone go to their library's website, request a lot of titles that they want online, go pick them up, take them to their office with several networked PCs on a Saturday afternoon, rip the CDs to AAC, burn them onto a couple of blank CD-RWs, take them home, pop them into iTunes, and then transfer them all to an iPod. I couldn't support that. Especially since it's free.
Now that I've let that cat out of the bag, we can expect to see the RIAA confiscating CDs from public libraries across the country, as well as obtaining Patriot Act subpoenas demanding to know the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of every library patron who has ever borrowed a CD. Since librarians have about as much political clout as homeless people (actually a little less), Congress and the media will look the other way.
Or am I being exceptionally paranoid?
Re:Your Public Library has CDs (Score:2, Insightful)
I go there first and then buy used on the internet.
I can afford full price, but I take pleasure in not giving money to the RIAA for no other reason then the way they have behaved.
Steve
I'm not sure if this is good. (Score:2, Insightful)
Assumptions (Score:5, Insightful)
P2P != music sharing.
Its used for many other things as well, like, eh, movie sharing and ISOs etc..
What we need is some Free music, (Score:2, Interesting)
Downloading MP3s from RIAA bands is like using cracked software. Somebody needs to step up and do for music what RMS did for software.
What about increasing broadband use? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ticker (Score:3, Interesting)
This would be fun, and I could have it right next to my S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq tickers.
RIAA New ad campaing (Score:4, Interesting)
Mine is getting hit by them every few days because I speak out about the wonders of the P2P..
yes my weblog link is in my profile..
Re:RIAA New ad campaing (Score:3, Interesting)
Mine is getting hit by them every few days because I speak out about the wonders of the P2P..
That's interesting, because I, too, have seen riaa.com in my referral logs, and the only mention I've given them is a post stating I'd think it amusing if they sued me. [spinsugar.com]
It makes me wonder if the RIAA might be spidering sites for mentions. If so, to what purpose? If it's to gauge the public's opinion of them, they ha
The fundamental flaw in all these studies (Score:5, Insightful)
All statistics based on self-reported data should be taken with a large spoonful of salt!
Two reasons swapping is down/up (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How it all works (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, you could drive to a store, but that involves getting off your ass, which is something manking has been trying to do less and less of since the Industrial Revolution. And store collections are severely limited compared to online collections.
The point is, there is a demand for instant on-demand entertainment, there's obviously the technology, but the only people
Re:How it all works (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How it all works (Score:3, Interesting)
Their argument is that one track downloaded on a P2P network could then be shared by that user and translate to thousands of future downloads. fair enough
Of course, that logic means the X1000downloads against the value of one track should be applied to those who make tracks available online not to JimBob "I downloaded one song" SixPack.
Anyone who downloads music in violation of c
Re:How it all works (Score:2, Insightful)
While we all know what you mean, I want to be pedantic. Downloading is not illegal. Downloading, even when just restricted to music is not illegal. It is important that the perception that "Downloading from Kazaa is illegal" isn't spread any further.
There are many sites and services that provide access to music free for download, because the artist has released it as such. My current favourite is Machinae Supremacy [machinaesupremacy.com]. However, there are many more. I
Re:which one (Score:2)
But in all reality, I only pirate things from companies who I believe to act unreasonably unethical. I say unreasonably because I think most major corporations do tend to act unethically.
Re:Illegally downloading? (Score:4, Insightful)
Because your example doesn't match the reality of the situation.
Taping music off the radio is more like RIPing your CD to MP3. (ie "fair use") This is not (currently) illegal.
Taking that MP3 and giving it to someone (eg making it available on a filesharing network) is illegal. (because you just made a copy for the purposes of distribution, which is an exclusive right of the copyright-holder).
In the US, music licensing/copyright laws have explicit clauses for "fair use" (eg singing "Happy Birthday" at your kids party) while still defining as illegal other violations (eg public and/or for money performances of songs).
Think of it like this, if you bought a book and photocopied the entire thing 10,000 times, and gave those 10,000 copies to your friends (and their friends, and relatives, etc) - that's a violation of copyright and therefore illegal.
If you bought a first-edition hardcover signed book, made one single photo-copy, put the original in your book-archive storage room, and only even read the copy
Re:Yet another story about RIAA! (Score:2)
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