Poll: Are you an evil mp3 pirate?

Over 1,000 to be exact. I'm very evil.

Really, since Napster went away I haven't really gotten around to learning how to use the new ways and means. I often WANT to get some songs but I never get around to actually learning. :)

hell, just go to

http://www.fruvous.com/mp3list.txt

to take part in the insanity.

I added the third option for me. I've downloaded a bunch of songs by one artist to start getting into the band, then buying the CD.

Some songs I have, however, I will probably never buy the CD for so maybe I'm a little evil that way.

Also I download out of print songs a lot, but I don't feel bad about that.

I generally only use MP3s as "previews," or when there's a song I need for a mix CD and I don't like/know enough of the artist's stuff to want to buy an album.� (These also tend to be songs I know from the radio or whatever...so the artists are relatively successful anyway and I don't feel like I'm hurting anything.� That's a rationalization, I know, but it is part of my thought process...)� I don't, like, download all the tracks from an album and then burn it.� Well...not any more.� I did before I thought out my stance on the subject.� I might still consider it if I own, say, the cassette version of the album but now want it on CD, or something.� *Sheepish look.

*covers her music retailing ears*

Thief!

Nah, I view downloading a song, not liking it, or not liking the album and not buying the CD akin to going to a music store, listening the the whole CD and not buying it.

I use it mainly to either 1) find hard to find stuff and rarities, or 2) preview songs I may want to buy (I just did that with the Tatu album, but then again, they have the whole thing for download on their website).

There was a way to download an MP3, and if you like it, donate money directly to the artist. "Yo, Tom Petty, here's a buck or two for that cool Last Dance with Mary Jane song!"

While I don't go so far to demonize the recording industry as a whole (they do play a valuable role and are due some compensation for their efforts), I also don't like the fact they act like thugs and try to squash new technology instead of adapting it to a business model. And I don't like the fact that the artist sees only a small percentage of a CDs cost. Yah, the marketing is expensive, but come on!

bloody evil dialup. :P

i download random songs, either ones that i've heard somewhere and i like, or songs by bands that i've never heard but want to find out about. it's cheaper than buying an album only to find that you don't like the music. :) if i really like the music i'll go out and buy the cd, because a) my dialup is too slow to download entire albums (and i don't have the patience), and b) i want the proper album with the sleeve and piccies and everything. just in case i bump into the band on my travels and just *happen* to have the cd with me so they can sign it (yeah, right). :D

I do option 3, mostly.

That's how I got into Fountains of Wayne... Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie.... and... well, lots of others.
Heh.
In the case of FoW... I downloaded a bunch of mp3's... loved their stuff.. and ended up buying all their albums.
Free advertising, baby!

The only time I download mp3's and don't subsequently buy the album(s) is when I either, A) Don't like their music. or B) Just wanted one random obscure song.

If there were a way to give a couple bucks for a kickass song even though you have no interest in the album, I'd be all about doing that.

There is, it's called iTunes. :)

I've had dial-up, but soon I'll have cable, so I'll probably get into the practice again of downloading MP3s, although it is MUCH harder now than during the golden age of Napster, when you could find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING on there, especially live tracks and b-side obscurities.� Now the only things you find are popular releases, mislabeled files, and fake tracks put out there by the recording industry themselves.

But here is what I've been yelled at before.� When it comes to smaller acts, I've stuck with buying their product.� They need the financial support of the fans to keep going on as a band, so if I like them and want to help them continue, I'll support them.� Especially buying CDs at shows rather than at the record store, where the band will get a much bigger percentage of the proceeds.

However, if it is a band that is already set for life, I won't have a problem just keeping the burned CD and not paying for it.� My entire Beatles collection for the most part is burned, as is half my Radiohead, and a lot of Billy Joel (Which I own on cassette anyway from MANY years back).� I don't think these acts will have to quit their day job if all of a sudden the CD sales dried up.�� However, Radiohead is becoming the exception now because of all the fake tracks out there.� For me, the first listen of a Radiohead album is VERY important, so I don't want it to be poisoned by a fake track.

Now, what I get yelled at about is, "Who are you to decide which artists to burn and which to buy?"� I'll answer that, it is my decision as it is anyone's decision.� Some people burn everybody, some people buy everybody.� It's a personal decision, and I don't believe anyone should get chastised by it.� If everyone made the decision to burn CDs, then yes, the industry as we know it would die, but who's fault would that be?� Arguments can be made be both sides equally.

The music industry has already changed drastically because of music burning, and has finally started coming to terms with stopping it (fake tracks) or embracing it (iTunes).�� And it will survive, just like it survived the recordable cassette tape (OH the horror of making mix tapes!), the introduction of the CD (remember the long cases and the extra tracks on CDs encouraging people to buy them?), so it will survive this.� As long as there is a need for music in the world, there will always be an industry for it to feed that need.� And many�$$$ to go around.

End of my rant.

I no use the mac.
:)
And besides... I want my money to go to the artist.. not to some big company who only passes on 2%.

�My entire Beatles collection for the most part is burned, ...I don't think these acts will have to quit their day job ...

That's what Yoko thought.

what is she doing to poor cookie monster??

Er...kid in pic...not Yoko.

Hail to the Thief!

Oh, that reminds me, time go download the new Radiohead CD..

Heh, I like the fact that you have 11 Paula Abdul songs, and 2 Moxy Fruvous songs. ;-)

Be careful of fake tracks....

DirectConnect is a much more reliable system than, oh, say Kazaa. I typically only download from sources which have large, well-organized collections. I've never once found a fake on DC++ (which is where I do most of my downloading), but the files I get on Kazaa are usually fakes.

I think one of the reasons for this is that hub admins ban the bad guys, and the people on DC++ seem to be a lot more knowledgable than your typicall Kazaa-fare, so fake files get nuked a lot quicker.

Thanks for the tip!� I'll know to try that when I get my cable set up finally.� I haven't been able to go online at home for a week now!

I've started going over to to the evil side now that�record companies�have stopped putting out singles. Back in the day (a few years ago) if you liked a random song or if you wanted to hear a new band, you could pay $4 and get a single. I love singles and now it seems they are no more.

Well I just ate my words here. I tried to download a copy of St. Anger from DC++ and was foiled by fake files. Ugh.

I think Metallica is a completely different animal.� They have been targeted because of the whole Lars vs. Napster thing.� On the one hand, you have all the anti-Lars Metallica fans who will put hundreds of copies of their music to stick it to the man, and on the other hand, you have the pro-Lars fans and Metallica itself putting hundreds of fake files on the net knowing JUST that.

The only way to fool-proof the downloading of files is to check the file size, not the time size.� Also, preview each song before you burn it.� Take a listen on your computer so if it's fake, you can easily delete it.� But you burn 100s of CDs anyway, so you probably already know this by now. :)

that's exactly my predicament. i don't have a problem with downloading, i own many mix cds & was led to buy many albums through them. but i'm just not very technologically adept & i've never downloaded music or burnt a cd myself.

there was no option for that, i guess cause we're all assumed to be computer nerds.

ya know, it's funny...
When I was a lil lil kid.... and my dad bought our first computer... an apple ][e.... (for $3000 or so) it just came naturally.
Then when I got my own... started fiddling with DOS on an 8088... and my parents started asking me questions... I thought it was just a generational thing.

Computers came so naturally to me... it took me a long time to realize that they didn't come that naturally or make that much sense to everyone.
Not like I just knew what to do automatically.... but.... it just made SENSE to me.

At first I thought this was just because I was exposed to them early on... but... as I got older... into my teens... I started to realize that some people just didn't get them as easily.

What was my point? Umm... Welll, other than the fact that I'm a hopeless geek.... I guess my point was that everyone has their own area of expertise.... and I think it's really cool that people in this community are so diverse. Like, some of you can write fic. I have no talent for that. Some of you can paint... I also have no real artistic talent in that way either.

It's cool that this group of people is such an interesting microcosm.... not just a bunch of nerds and geeks .... but a mix of people who all have their own lives and interests... and who all love each other and come together as a community.

At the risk of being a total cheeseball... (too late?) this place, and ya'll... really fuckin rock.
:)

oODon't blame it on Yokie...oO

Actually the industry is gearing back up on the single now in the form of DVD singles. It's still a fairly new product right now but they're hoping this format will be the "new 45"

Let's hope it takes off.� That would be a great way to market the sale of music videos, and you have have the singles in Dolbi 5.1 sound.

If it takes off, the music video would make a comeback, at least until it also gets pirated.

It won't. At least not anytime soon.

People like to listen to their music in other places besides their living rooms, and portable DVD players are not ubiquitous and cheap enough yet.

Also, I buy music to listen to it, not to watch it. I really don't care if there is any visual content on that DVD, if I wanted video content I would have purchased a music video DVD in the first place. I think that's why the multimedia CD Extra CDs never really took off. They wasted 1/2 the CD with "bonus material" (i.e. lousy bios, maybe a video, or a stupid flash presentation) that could have been more songs; think BNL's "Rock Spectacle". I'm sure it sold a zillion copies, but probably because it had "If I had $1,000,000" on it, not because of the garbage they bundled with it. We could have had 10 more live tracks.

Are they now expecting me to buy a handful of songs (one new, one unreleased, maybe some remixes) and pay a lot of money for them justified by video content? I don't think so.

I think the people have already decided what the "new 45" is. It's songs on demand, downloaded over the net, that they can play where they want, when they want, forever. If record companies would give us access to their ENTIRE CATALOG (not just what they WANT us to buy) and let us on their high speed servers with correctly named 256kbps MP3 files, I'd pay for it.

I have a bunch of CD's (such as Rock Spectacle) that I haven't even bothered looking at the extras yet. I just want the music!

If record companies would give us access to their ENTIRE CATALOG (not just what they WANT us to buy) and let us on their high speed servers with correctly named 256kbps MP3 files, I'd pay for it.

Me too. Maybe I'm not "computer-geeky" enougfh, but I don't understand why record companies don't set upo their own dowload service. Sure people� could make unauthorized copies, but they are doing it anyway, why don't the RC's get a piece of the pie. I'd rather sign up with them rather than some possibly bogus subscription service.

Yeah, exactly.
I have a several cds with "multimedia features"... and I don't think I've ever bothered to look at them. The only exception being one of my Primus cds.

As far as a subscription service like you're suggesting... I'd sign up for that. To have reliable servers... searchable databases.... not have people log off in the middle of my download... not download a song at 2 k/s for hours just to discover it's not actually what it claims to be.... or cuts off in the last 30 seconds....
I would sign up for that system in an instant.

record companies, like lawmakers, are very slow to embrace technology. they would much rather fight it. probably because they have too much pride to allow themselves to be proven wrong.

personally, I don't download mp3s simply because I enjoy the full product that is a CD, and most of the artists I like are on small independent labels that treat the artists better and so on.

but I'm all for piracy when it comes to major labels. and I'm not just conveniently ignoring it. I'm advocating it.

the record companies deserve to go down. make them lose money. greedy bastards.

Yeah, I suppose I should clarify..... I don't download too many mp3's, really. Most of the ones I have are ripped from the cds I own.

It's just a convenient format... and when I get home, I can just hit "play" on winamp and sit back to a nice random mix of music I like.

Gah.
As someone who usually uses her laptop to play CD's, I have to say that I despise mulitmedia stuff.� I hate it when I put in a CD to hear the music and suddenly the sucky flash page or something opens and takes forever to load far enough for me to close it.� Grrrrr.

That's easy to get rid of.. just turn off auto-play on the cd drive. :)

I'm a chaotic neutral mp3 pirate. :-)

If we had another less popular option at the top, we could get a nice bell curve going.

Make them lose money by stealing from them? That's not right. Why don't you just stop buying their CDs?

Well, the Paula Abdul was an old CD that I ripped and then sold...so that *should* count for something. :)

The only reason I only have 2 MF songs is because I already have so much crap on DAT! :)

Chris

Well, yeah...but when it's just music, I like it to auto-play...

I just can't believe that nine people voted for it being "evil".

Like, umm... huh?

Some people might actually consider it stealing.