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Music source - CD, iTunes, BitTorrent, etc.?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Melodious Thunk, Jun 19, 2007.

?

What is your favorite way to get music?

  1. CDs

    7 vote(s)
    35.0%
  2. iTunes

    7 vote(s)
    35.0%
  3. BitTorrent - why buy the cow?

    4 vote(s)
    20.0%
  4. Needle in the groove

    1 vote(s)
    5.0%
  5. Other P2P options - Thunk is clearly a dinosaur

    1 vote(s)
    5.0%
  1. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    There was no one else in the entertainment business who was in a better position to capitalize on the digital music/Internet interface than the music industry and they simply stood there and watched the technology blow past them until finally after Napster zoomed past them they put up legal roadblocks.

    Who should be at the forefront of offering music downloads? Apple? No it was the recording industry. I remember in the early '80s the promise that you could go to the music store and make mixed tapes for around $1 per single. Empty promise, and we were all stuck hitting the damn rec and pause button on the cassette player with our TDK/Maxell tapes. The RIAA can go screw themselves.
     
  2. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    Judge me all you want, but I'll steal the shit out of music, movies and TV shows.

    For those of you that care and don't know how: I downloaded a program called uTorrent. Then go to any number of web sites -- mininova.org, thepiratebay.org, isohunt.com and torrentspy.com are the ones I usually use -- and download a "torrent."

    The uTorrent program then takes that little file you download from the web site and connects you with other people who are also downloading that file. So for instance if you want to download Flags of our Fathers, the movie, you'd search for it, find it, download the torrent, then you'd be connected to all the people out there who either have it on their computer or who are in the process of downloading it. It downloads in chunks, so you can be downloading one piece from a guy while he's downloading a piece you already have from you. It's all about sharing. It has as many albums, movies and TV shows as you'd ever want, and I've never had a problem with viruses. Sometimes you do get corrupt files, at which point I just search again and pick a different one.

    I pretty much always have at least two or three things downloading. Right now, I'm downloading Sopranos, season 5.

    And NO, I don't feel guilty. For the most part, I'm downloading crap that I wouldn't pay for anyways. I know that's a fairly weak argument, but I've never once though "Hmmm ... I won't see that movie in the theater because I'll just download it in a month." I didn't go to Flags of our Fathers, and I probably wouldn't have seen it until it was on network TV or HBO or something, unless I downloaded it. I still go to the movies plenty, three or four times a month.

    I still support all the same stuff that I would normally spend money on. I pay for HBO. I downloaded the first three seasons of Entourage (which I missed because I didn't know about it and didn't have HBO through the first part of it), but liked it so much that in addition to paying for HBO, I went out and bought the DVDs. I still buy other DVDs on a regular basis (for movies I like, not movies I just have mild interest in seeing, like Flags.)

    I got hooked on Dropkick Murphies after downloading their stuff and have since paid to see two concerts I never would have gone to otherwise, and bought two CDs I never would have bought otherwise.

    Sure, I know it's stealing. But I feel comfortable in the fact that I'm willing to pay for what I like, and in the end pay about the same amount that I would without the service available. The rest of the stuff I download I look at as a nice thing to have, but something I could do without if need be.

    TV shows, movies and CDs ... geez, we haven't even gotten into my "ownership" of all things Adobe.
     
  3. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Post that same thing under your real name.
     
  4. Pilot - You say that, and a lot of people do, but meanwhile the movie industry and recording industry continue to suffer devastating losses. Look at Rolling Stone this week, the comparision between the top 10 selling albums in 2000 vs. 2006. It's sickening.

    And I'm not judging you or anyone else. I am judging the act, though. It's wrong. It's theft of intellectual property, and a bunch of writers should understand that. It's copyright violation, plain and simple.

    Mixed tapes and taping off the radio in the 1980s were one thing. This is on a far, far, far grander scale. Maybe some of you don't think that there should be an allowance for degree, but I do.
     
  5. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    Touche, but

    A. The same could be said about a majority of stuff written on this site, and

    B. Do you really think anything would happen? I'd be very, very surprised.
     
  6. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    I acknowledge the hypocrite aspect with the writer part, but deny that dubbing a tape is any different. That'd be like me trying to draw a line between what I do and people that download absolutely everything, no matter whether they'd normally pay for it or not.

    I might not have been clear about that -- I don't see my admitting to paying for some stuff as something that makes me any better than others, just pointing out that as someone who doesn't have much moral problem with the whole thing, I still have some incentive and desire to support the industry. Most people in my circle approach it about the same way -- they download a lot, but still mostly pay for stuff they'd use anyway.
     
  7. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    When you dub something to tape, or burn a CD, usually the album or CD or whatever that you are recording from was paid for by someone, so at least one of the copies wasn't stolen.
     
  8. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    This is about to dissolve into a really dumb argument, BUT, if you download a movie shot in a theater, someone bought a ticket. Someone bought a DVD. Someone bought the CD.

    Really though, I can't see the "dubbing is OK" argument. Dubbing is much less efficient, thus more moral? How is that different than saying finding a way to rob your bank online (siphoning funds from a central fund, not hacking one particular person's checking account) is worse than going Jesse James on a bank? You'll get a lot more money the first way, but in my eyes the only difference is the efficiency.
     
  9. People typically didn't record thousands upon thousands of songs off the radio. They do off of the Internet.

    It's a huge difference and it manifests itself in the failing labels.
     
  10. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    And not for nothing, their response to the rise of Napster couldn't possibly have been worse, which made a huge contribution to their demise. Anyone with any sense would have immediately set up a system to sell legal downloads. The labels chose instead to file lawsuits and look for ways to prevent people from ripping legally owned CDs onto their own computers. They even fought against iTunes until Jobs convinced them they were dooming themselves.

    The labels may be the most dishonestly and foolishly run businesses around. That's not to justify copyright violations, but it makes for a seriously unsympathetic victim. The labels can't die fast enough.
     
  11. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member


    What it does to the labels isn't my point. My point is that dubbing from a tape is stealing the same as downloading from the internet is stealing. Quanity, quality, ease ... sure all that makes a difference and greatens the impact, but some are argueing that we shouldn't' do it because it's wrong -- against the moral code -- and at that basic level, it's wrong regardless of the details, size or effect.
     
  12. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    Yes, uTorrent is a fine way to go. :)
     
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