Hi,
Some of you are concerned about the legality of torrents. I too, remember
the days of Kazaa & Napster as well as WinXP before any of the companies
were taken to court and then went legit. Unlike those companies, read about
this one, a legal site no one can shut down - yet. Below is a link to
Rolling Stone Magazine, a definitive and reputable resource since the 1960's
regarding rock and roll overall. It's changed, hip hop and rap is quite
noticeable now as well. I copied and pasted the story here for you to read. link
Bram Cohen
The computer whiz
You Know Him From BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer program that Cohen introduced
in 2002, allows users to easily share large digital files such as movies and
TV shows, and since it's just a content-distribution tool, it can't be shut
down like Napster for piracy issues. "Hollywood could use this technology to
set up something like iTunes, but they won't," says Cohen. "They fear
change."
The Breakthrough In March,
Cohen rolled out the new, faster, easier-to-use BitTorrent 4.0.0, which
already counts more than 30 million users. "That is just a ridiculous
number," he concedes.
The Kindness Of Downloaders
Cohen, 29, was programming computers at the age of five. After bouncing
around in the dot-com boom in the Nineties, he set out on his own. His
current income comes from donations by legions of grateful users.
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So for all you out there wondering about the above, I am telling you
this:-) I've been using the internet since 1996 and I don't claim to be a
whiz kid with making software at all. I remember the story about a granddad
and his grandkids who were sued by the Recording Industry Of America for
each song they downloaded, a whopping $1500. a piece. I don't recall the
outcome but I still find it outrageous. Right now, I am listening to U2 in
San Diego, March 30, 2005, I used a torrent to download the show of which
was recorded by an audience member. Record label companies and or
management frown on this but ultimately it is the artist(s) decision. You
might be familiar with the word "bootleg". If you ever wanted to hear an
act live for yourself, you probably have a live release of some band out
there, released by the band officially on some minor/major label. I used to
do that and when a band does come out with a quality product that has what I
want to hear in terms of quality and it is a band I enjoy, I buy it.
The reality is, some bands will and will not allow you or I to even take
pictures and or record the show. U2, Bruce Springsteen and Phish and Dave
Mathews were and still are known for such allowance. Guns-N-Roses lead
singer Axl Rose stopped a show and kicked someone out he saw taking
pictures. Some artists don't want their recordings released. The legendary
Bruce Springsteen "The Prodigal Son" studio recordings, widely circulated as
fan recordings took prominence when a record label tried to have them
released commercially. Springsteen stopped that and in my opinion, it was
fair and square of Springsteen to do so. Some of you know about U2's "How
To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" being leaked out to the internet. I had a copy
of the entire CD within minutes of the leak. My opinion is someone knew I
was (for I frequent daily) at the Springsteen Usenet group,
rec.music.artists.springsteen, a community available via Google "Groups" and
your ISP if that company carries newsgroups. I didn't go out and sell this,
nor have I sold any "bootlegs", it is highly frowned upon. Many a person
has tried to sell via Ebay, audience recordings and they are sometimes
successful but anyone with respect for the band will try a