The death of LimeWire

http://thegauntlet.ca/story/14926

It's hard to imagine the recording industry winning any major battles these days and it's amusing to observe them rejoicing -- apparently without irony -- at minor victories like the recent court ruling ordering the complete shutdown of LimeWire's P2P server. It's incredible to think that the Recording Industry Association of America believes shutting down one program will have even the suggestion of an impact on file sharing. LimeWire was one of many P2P programs and its former users will soon gravitate towards the several dozen other sites that allow free downloads. A spokesman for the RIAA, however, made a rather ominous statement suggesting that the ruling will "start to unwind the massive piracy machine." It has become pretty clear that record companies have become obsolete middlemen that need to either recognise the realities of the digital age or be phased out of music entirely, in which case I wouldn't miss them one bit.

LimeWire was providing people, along with dozens of other websites and networks, the opportunity to download files and copyrighted music. The RIAA had been involved in a court struggle with LimeWire for the past several years and on Oct. 26, 2010, an American court ruled that the company violated copyright laws and ordered it immediately shut down. Lime Group, who ran LimeWire, will likely be forced to pay the RIAA compensation for lost sales.

In reality, this is a struggle between an institution made obsolete by new technologies and consumers. Few people really care about the profits of record companies, though many do care about those of the artist. As a result, this is the card the RIAA is now playing. Of course, it's an outright lie: artists only get a small percentage of the money that comes from record sales and most of their profits come from touring. Speaking of which, ticket sales for concerts have been skyrocketing since the beginning of the decade (roughly coinciding with the advent of file-sharing). So, while it is true that CD sales are plummeting, the music industry as a whole is rapidly growing and the see LimeWire, page 11

only people losing money are the corporate executives in the recording industry.

I hope the death of the record company will come about as soon as possible -- it will simply be another step in the changing face of the music industry. The elimination of big-name, big-dollar labels will help level the playing field. Equality on the internet (which organizations like the RIAA are laughably attempting to threaten) will allow artists to market their work more effectively. If people want to buy music to support an artist, they're welcome to do so -- Radiohead released an album online for whatever amount listeners wanted to pay. If the band can take advantage of new technology and gain a following, it can get people to come to live shows. If there's one place where an unfettered market could work, it's on the internet.

The one issue is that the recording industry seems to have ambitions of stopping pirating in any form. Shutting LimeWire down was a minor event and several competitors will immediately pounce upon the opening, perhaps even increasing the amount of music pirated. Unless the record industry plans on shutting down the entire internet, we can be pretty comfortable it won't be successful in combating file sharing. In the meantime, we can hope the RIAA bankrupts itself pursuing pointless lawsuits against individual websites.

anyone know any other p2p file sharing sites or programs?

Bit Torrent.

http://www.demonoid.com/
http://rutracker.org/

soulseek

SFxSTONER wrote:Bit Torrent.

http://www.demonoid.com/
http://rutracker.org/

those look wierd. what program you use for those?

What i like to do is download songs into mp3 from youtube videos its really easy to I use listentoyoutube.com

It has become pretty clear that record companies have become obsolete middlemen that need to either recognise the realities of the digital age or be phased out of music entirely, in which case I wouldn't miss them one bit

I like the way this article was written. I'm getting tired of hearing people in the music industry complaining about downloading. These people need to get with the times, things are changing and if you can't adapt, too bad. Shutting down sites is lame shit. The record industry had a good run when artist started making 'albums' and were able to sell the same disc used for single records, to sell it with multiple tracks(allowing them to charge much more). They hit the jack pot then, nothing wrong with that, but those days are over. Something else has to come along.

Majority of artists now and days are whack, their music is str8 boo boo.....buy a cd, your lucky if you get three tracks worth banging even more lucky if their back to back on a cd.....nobody makes albums with all bangers for ex: dpg's album 'doggfood' from beginning to end that shit bangs.....tupac's 'all eyes on me' a two disc album bangs.....everyone in the industry is basically doing duets with someone else or are releasing cross over hits like snoop dog w/Katy Perry.....I don't buy cd's outta stores no more, it's either cd's off Venice beach or imusic downloads.....I remember a line from a mobb deep track....¶¶'for the internet junkies downloading mobbdeep,you can bootleg that's on me'¶¶.....

DontxTrip wrote:those look wierd. what program you use for those?

http://www.bittorrent.com/

SFxSTONER wrote:

DontxTrip wrote:those look wierd. what program you use for those?

http://www.bittorrent.com/

i dont like using that one. i used that one and some other one before, untill i got a copyright infringement email from my cable provider. i never got one from limewire, i use a program called emule for movies and other shit, been using it for years, works great. are there any programs similar to limewire, that are good for music and looking up single tracks?

try soulseek homie i used that for like 5 years now still am to this day.

Coka wrote:try soulseek homie i used that for like 5 years now still am to this day.

firmes ill give it a shot.

fuck limewire..that bullshit gave me a virus like 4 years ago..limewireK

W.Devil wrote:fuck limewire..that bullshit gave me a virus like 4 years ago..limewireK

True, shit was full of all sorts of harmful files that could mess your stuff up.

any of you guys use that frostwire shit?