Torrents

[daclassicgamingmaster]

I have a serious question. I was recently linked so some new shitty plan that our wonderful president passed a few days ago. It dealt with making it a felony for those who download music, etc. Obviously, I was scared.

My knowledge about torrents is extremely elementary, but for the record, I don't download [hollywood] movies. Let's just say for the sake of argument someone downloads 5GB or less of music per month, on average. That's not a lot of music. Are the odds of getting caught high? I want to say no, as tens of millions of people use torrents and a very large percent of our population downloads music illegally; but as my knowledge of this sort of thing is very basic, I don't really know for sure.

Everyone with a brain knows that the use of torrents is ALWAYS risky, but how big a risk is it? Could a person be looking at a C&D well before they're fined huge amounts and end up with a felony charge? What happens if a person is caught? Does the door to your house get broken down while you are swarmed by a swat team? If you manage to connect to a wireless connection that is not your own (your poor neighbor's, maybe), would you be relatively safe?

As I've already said, I'm scared shitless. I love music, and I'm a poor college student. I'm also very picky with stuff that I listen to. Buying albums is out of the question, as it would run me thousands of dollars. I cannot justify wasting 99 cents per song on a service such as itunes. There must be a better way. I am waiting with bated breath for a service that charges a fixed rate per month for as much as you can possibly download, because of course, that would be perfect.

Any suggestions? Share your music-gaining methods in this thread and help ease my troubled mind.


As a note, I tried to make this thread as acceptable as possible. If there is anything against rules, please notify me so sections can be removed. Don't close this thread, I'm really paranoid about this and I've actually be losing sleep

 

[Chip]

The laws and fines are geared more toward punishing distribution than mere possession. People only get caught because there are companies who have made a very lucrative business out of scouring P2P networks for users sharing copyrighted material and selling the IP numbers of those users to rights holders. P2P networks only work because all users are uploading in addition to downloading, and this is where you get into trouble. Programs like peerguardian are marginally helpful, but getting pinched for uploading is kinda like an STD - the only 100% effective preventative is abstinence.

The only way to be "safe" is to acquire media in such a way that you are never uploading anything. Even better is a system that also supports SSL encryption so that even your ISP can't rat you out. There are a couple ways to go about this, and none of them involve P2P. This is a public forum, so I'm not going to give you specific instructions on how to break the law. I will suggest you google "NZB" and go from there.

 

[sam fisher]

I have a serious question. I was recently linked so some new shitty plan that our wonderful president passed a few days ago. It dealt with making it a felony for those who download music, etc. Obviously, I was scared.

My knowledge about torrents is extremely elementary, but for the record, I don't download [hollywood] movies. Let's just say for the sake of argument someone downloads 5GB or less of music per month, on average. That's not a lot of music. Are the odds of getting caught high? I want to say no, as tens of millions of people use torrents and a very large percent of our population downloads music illegally; but as my knowledge of this sort of thing is very basic, I don't really know for sure.

Everyone with a brain knows that the use of torrents is ALWAYS risky, but how big a risk is it? Could a person be looking at a C&D well before they're fined huge amounts and end up with a felony charge? What happens if a person is caught? Does the door to your house get broken down while you are swarmed by a swat team? If you manage to connect to a wireless connection that is not your own (your poor neighbor's, maybe), would you be relatively safe?

As I've already said, I'm scared shitless. I love music, and I'm a poor college student. I'm also very picky with stuff that I listen to. Buying albums is out of the question, as it would run me thousands of dollars. I cannot justify wasting 99 cents per song on a service such as itunes. There must be a better way. I am waiting with bated breath for a service that charges a fixed rate per month for as much as you can possibly download, because of course, that would be perfect.

Any suggestions? Share your music-gaining methods in this thread and help ease my troubled mind.

As a note, I tried to make this thread as acceptable as possible. If there is anything against rules, please notify me so sections can be removed. Don't close this thread, I'm really paranoid about this and I've actually be losing sleep


5Gb is 5*1024Mb which is 5*1024/3 songs which is equal to 1706 songs and 2 thirds of a song. This is a huge amount of songs. You refer to "wasting" money on songs? Would you consider it a waste for people to buy things that your place of work sells? If not then I suggest you re-evaluate your method of rationalising your huge amount (from what i've seen in this topic thus far) of illegal downloading activities.

You say you aren't downloading movies but isn't it the music industry that is far more pro-active at tracking down pirates?

If i want to listen to an individual song i look for it on youtube (pretty much everything seems to be up there nowadays) maybe you should try that?

 

[moz]

QUOTE
5GB or less of music per month, on average. That's not a lot of music


yes it is, otherwise you would be buying the music you want, rather than trying to justify stealing it.

why dont you go buy it if you are worried if you cant afford it go find another hobby , or at least record it off MTV

 

[sam fisher]

This is a public forum, so I'm not going to give you specific instructions on how to break the law. I will suggest you google "NZB" and go from there.

That is still aiding and abetting a criminal isn't it h34r:

 

[Username]

I kinda laughed when I saw this topic. The chances of getting caught downloading music are very slim. You should almost NEVER use P2P, but torrents are very safe (as long as you know where to get them). I'm pretty sure I can't give you links, so you're on your own there.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

I meant that 5GB isn't a lot of music in terms of what MOST people torrent in. In fact, there are millions of people who download that amount within a mere few days.

Look, if you don't like the concept of "stealing" music, then get the hell out of this thread. If I wanted a lecture, I'd ask my mother. This comment is especially directed at peter, since he's such a little two-face when he's on this forum.

Moz: I'm not justifying anything. Stealing is wrong in any form, and I acknowledge that. The thing is, I am in fact broke. And picky. I don't spend money on albums since I usually dislike the majority of tracks. The average percent of tracks per album that I like and deem MP3 player worthy is about 30%. I have no problem paying for things that I like; I've purchased numerous albums that are known to be good, and I also support good rap music by buying new albums, usually without a prior listen. I don't really need to explain myself. To sum it up, this is the way I am, so too fucking bad if anyone has a problem with it.

Username: I know of good torrent sites. I'm just still paranoid no matter how slim the chance of being caught, so that can't be prevented.

Thank you Chip, I will check out your info. I try to not upload (even though it does go against the whole P2P concept), though I'm sure I'm not preventing uploads the way I should be....

 

[sam fisher]

This comment is especially directed at peter, since he's such a little two-face when he's on this forum.

Not really. I always say music piracy is wrong. If people were stealing a computer program I wrote to get money to pay my own bills I would be angry. Hence musical artists get the same right. Secondly, as I already said pretty much all popular music is available via youtube etc.

 

[Chip]

That is still aiding and abetting a criminal isn't it h34r:
Of course not. There is nothing "criminal" about the .NZB file format. If somebody posted that they wanted to steal the Mona Lisa, and I posted detailed blueprints of the Louvre and codes to the security system, that would be aiding and abetting. If I merely mentioned they might want to google "Vincenzo Peruggia", certainly I have done nothing even slightly illicit.

You should almost NEVER use P2P, but torrents are very safe (as long as you know where to get them). I'm pretty sure I can't give you links, so you're on your own there.

I try to not upload (even though it does go against the whole P2P concept), though I'm sure I'm not preventing uploads the way I should be....
Torrents are no more private than any other form of P2P. While downloading a file, you are also uploading pieces of it. Anybody else with access to that torrent has access to your IP address, and the fact that you are participating in the torrent is enough to land you in hot water. There is no truly "safe" way to use any type of P2P network. Even using a hacked client and completely disabling uploads is no guarantee.

Secondly, as I already said pretty much all popular music is available via youtube etc.
And as tens of thousands of DMCA takedown requests have said, those Youtube videos are not authorized or endorsed by the artists any more than DCGM's torrents. It is illegal to make an unauthorized copy of a song, and when you view a youtube video, that song is copied into the RAM (and probably the browser cache) of your computer. As far as the law is concerned, every time you listen to an unauthorized song on Youtube, you've "stolen" it just as much as if you've downloaded it via Bittorrent.

Legality aside, you're still deriving enjoyment from the song without compensating the artist, producer or publisher. At least DCGM is being honest about his flagrant thievery.

 

[Squirrel61]

The only way to be 100% safe is not to download anything that is copyrighted material or otherwise considered illegal. But this is not what you want to hear, since you already know that.

The second best method is by downloading without uploading. The only 100% safe way of doing this, as far as I know, is getting binaries from newsgroups, like Chip mentioned. And still, I'm not sure if your IP doesn't get registered anywhere.

So if you're paranoid, stop downloading. If you're willing to take only small risks, consider dropping p2p and using other downloading methods. But if newsgroups turns out to be your preferred method, you should take into account that you will need some kind of paid account with a news server, because free servers usually don't support most binary groups.

Luckily, the situation where I live is slightly different (although the entertainment industry is continually pushing and bribing politics to change it). Downloading of most material is allowed since it's considered a backup copy for personal use, but spreading is illegal. That makes p2p pretty useless for me, but newsgroups are perfect.

 

[jakshep2]

If people were stealing a computer program I wrote to get money to pay my own bills I would be angry. Hence musical artists get the same right.

meh, they get all their money from concerts, etc.

 

[(naw)mcx]

PeerGuardian2, might help you sleep a wee bit better
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

And 5GB of music is rather large, if I'm honest. I reccomend a Rapidshare account. Cheap, VERY quick (downthemall, etc) and pretty safe as far as being cought goes.

Although, I'm just talking about downloading legal, free music.

 

[lizard808uk]

I don't know why people still use Torrent and P2P as a way of getting *legal* music - its very much passe these days. Everyone I know uses Rapidshare, Megaupload and Google hacks.

Edit: Just checked out NZB - very cool and old school at the same time Thanks Chip!

 

[gp32rich]

If you were that bothered about downloading illegally, you'd find one of the many internet radio sites that will play stuff to you legally.


If you want to record those streams then that is illegal and your choice, but the downloading and listening of them is licenced and legal.

 

[moz]

QUOTE
I'm not justifying anything. Stealing is wrong in any form, and I acknowledge that. The thing is, I am in fact broke. And picky. I don't spend money on albums since I usually dislike the majority of tracks. The average percent of tracks per album that I like and deem MP3 player worthy is about 30%. I have no problem paying for things that I like



you are trying to justify it just read your above quote.

you cant afford to buy the albums so you choose to steal the individual tracks you want and deem that 99c per track too expensive from itunes

you try to justify this by saying that you cant individually purchase the tracks you want at the price you want, theres a reason for this so the music company can make money as you have to buy the album, if they didnt do it this way then your individual tracks would cost a lot more and it would probably work out cheaper to buy the album. This is the whole point of an album and why "best of" and compilations exist.


i agree that it sucks that you cant purchase the tracks you want, but if your downloading 5GB a month you probably couldnt afford to buy them anyhow.

i've always wondered what would happen if an artist/music company setup an anonoymous paypal or some other donation system for people to donate to if they have stolen there tracks with the payer giving what they thought the music was worth..........

 

[lubidog]

You know what, I am a musician and I have found CDs of concerts that I have sung pirated and for sale and it didn't bother me!

But yeah, piracy is bad, mkay?

 

[jakshep2]

You know what, I am a musician and I have found CDs of concerts that I have sung pirated and for sale and it didn't bother me!

But yeah, piracy is bad, mkay?

lol I can't help myself - did you buy the pirated CDs? That would be irony at its best. h34r:

 

[Goity]

deezer.com is pretty good for listening to music legally, and much better quality than Youtube.

 

[quasist]

5GB is very very little. Why then people buy TB HDD's ?

For some law stuff I like to refer here to stop demoralazing myself.

P.S: Damn. Can't wait for release of new castlevania on DS

 

[sam fisher]

And as tens of thousands of DMCA takedown requests have said, those Youtube videos are not authorized or endorsed by the artists any more than DCGM's torrents. It is illegal to make an unauthorized copy of a song, and when you view a youtube video, that song is copied into the RAM (and probably the browser cache) of your computer. As far as the law is concerned, every time you listen to an unauthorized song on Youtube, you've "stolen" it just as much as if you've downloaded it via Bittorrent.

Legality aside, you're still deriving enjoyment from the song without compensating the artist, producer or publisher. At least DCGM is being honest about his flagrant thievery.

Thats an utterly stupid assumption you have made there. Most music artists have put popular music on there nowadays in return for ad revenue. Get with the times .