Help Me Not Steal Music!


Home > Misc > Random Thoughts > Help Me Not Steal Music!

Below is the random thought titled "Help Me Not Steal Music!". Be aware that these thoughts may be based on opinion, and my opinion might not agree with yours. Also, the thought below may be based on mood, time of day, or any number of other factors. Please keep this in mind.


Help Me Not Steal Music!
Friday, October 03, 2003

Moments ago I headed over to BuyMusic.com to pay $0.99 to download "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega. I was stopped dead in my tracks when I read the limitations of the file imposted by the WMA (Windows Media Audio) format used: I could burn it as may times as I want, I could make as many copies as I want, but I could only use the file on one computer. What the hell is that? The exact purpose of wanting to download this stong is so that I may copy it to the PC-based MP3 player in my car and listen to it on the road. Their "digital rights management" prevents exactly that, which renders the file completely useless to me.

My solution? Download it via Kazaa.

Unless music services lift these ridiculous limitations, I can only imagine how many people will do the exact same thing that I just did.


Comments From Others

anonymous
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Friday, April 15, 2011
IM A THIEF !! I steal music on a daily basis lol . Why buy a entire cd when you only like one song? Sorry Music people :(

(Editor's notes: Buy that one song?)

Help Me Not Steal Music!
Friday, February 19, 2010
According to the RIAA, if we want to download music off the internet, we first have to request permission from the copyright holder, Someone who we have no way of contacting. Even if we managed to get in touch with the artist somehow, there's no garintee that they'll be available to talk to us. Lets face it, celebrities are busy people. Its not like they're sitting right there by the phone or computer, just waiting for us to call or email them, just to ask, "Can I download your music?" There's nothing wrong with downloading music off the internet for free from time to time. I'm not saying that everything in life should be free, that wouldn't be realistic. I'm only saying, that downloading music for free, doesn't do any harm. As one other poster said, chances are, the artists probably don't give a darn if you download and share their music. No matter how many people they try to sue, the fact that people are using peer to peer services to obtain music, is a fact of life in this digital age, and its not going to go away anytime soon, so the RIAA might as well try to live with it. The way I see it, just because people download music off the web for free, doesn't necessarily mean that they will stop buying cds all together. I do both. I download music off the web, and when I'm financially able to, I also buy cds. After all, there are certain cds that we may want, but aren't able to aford, either because of the price, or maybe it just might not be available in the part of the world in which we live in. This is why we have imported cds. Imported cds can be quite expensive too. The bottom line, downloading music off the internet, is not stealing. You're downloading a digital file. How can you steal something you can't touch? Now, if you were to go to an mp3 search engine, and after downloading a copy of an mp3 for yourself, you atempted to remove the master copy from the site, thus making it impossible for anyone else to get a copy, then you'd be doing something wrong. But simply using a search engine, or peer to peer network, is not stealing. So, Yes, I agree with what you said sir, about downloading music the way you did. The RIAA aut to just shut up, and leave us music enthusiasts alone. We don't tell them how to live their lives, so why should they tell us how to live ours?
Adam_Linux
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
I think that if a band is good enough, that they should make more than enough money off of playing concerts to be well off and should stop complaining about people stealing their music, the only bands that I feel bad for are the small ones that only really make money from cd sales. But I could care less if Green Day or some other multi-million dollar band gets robbed blind...and I would buy more online music if it had no DRM.
davebres
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Meh. New copyright legislation just got introduced. I now officially hate Steven Harper. Next they'll start locking up 13 year olds for downloading 3 songs. Great. Now we're just like the U.S.A. No rights. I can see the Canadian Patriot Act coming about soon.
dave bres
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Sorry about my previous comment, it is a bit of a crazy rant. Although I understand musical artists deserve money for their hard work, not many people want to go to a music store and shell out $12 bucks or more for a single CD, when the entire CD is at your fingertips on the computer.The Music industry is about to collapse, although the time frame to doomsday is still unpredictable. I believe Canadian law allows Canadian citizens to download, but not to upload. I still have to check that in the charter of laws, etc. The "too rich" part is a bit personal opinion. It relates to the class war, which is a whole different story. Considering the millions many artists still make, P2P downloading is only affecting artists slightly, as many people still purchase CDs. I'll post more later.
dave bres
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Monday, October 15, 2007
You buy music? PIRACY FOR THE WIN! I would never ever buy music... Downloading music is not stealing. The Canadian law protects us from those copyright laws. Even if it is stealing, those song artists are already rich as it is.

(Editor's notes: Uh, downloading copyrighted material without the copyright holder's permission is quite illegal in Canada and almost every other country in the world. Who are you to say that an artist does not deserve to be compensated from their work because they are "already rich as it is"?)

squirrel hunter
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
to download music use bit torrent or limewire.Kazza is full of trojan downloaders and adware (viruses)

(Editor's notes: Kazaa Lite, K++, etc. But downloading music without paying is still stealing no matter how you do it.)

Roberto
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Friday, August 11, 2006
I agree
george
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
How do i get a Free WinMX download with no pay and share free files ?¿ I've been looking every where over the net for it Google , Yahoo etc

(Editor's note: You're kidding, right?)

lyman
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
im not a thief
jennifer luvs greenday
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, September 11, 2005
make it where you can burn greenday songs on a cd for free and make it easy!!! that would be the bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Editor's note: I would be more then willing to pay for the music, as long as it is not restricted...)

Epsilon
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Thursday, August 18, 2005
.. if its good music, its worth every penny.. I am a big fan of MetallicA.. and their albums are like 35$..and i buy em.(not all of them are good..) Being in a band myself, i know how expensive it is to make music.. i think in the long run, its better to buy your music.. cause youll always have it.. and for those people that say 'buy a whole album just for one song..?' download it then.. obviously youve missed the point of what an 'album' is..
Kyle
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Monday, June 13, 2005
www.napster.com They are now legal You pay per-month, download all you like. No $0.99 per song crap. It might be worth it, might not. Im getting sick of listening to the radio and I dont want to pay $28.00 for a music cd for 14 songs. Sharing really cant be considered "stealing". Just like the previous poster, when someone "stole" his CDs, they were gone and wont be back. Its called "COPYING". It doesnt matter. The music industry thinks I would actually spend money on a cd. I wouldnt buy a CD for more than $10 no matter what. Its not worth it, because I can just record the music off the radio for free.

(Editor's note: However, as soon as you stop paying Napster your subscription, you lose all your music. And it's still loaded with DRM that prevents me from playing it in the car...)

AdamQ
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Canada's legislation makes downloading MP3s legal, but uploading them is illegal. As far as I know, the USA laws still state that both are illegal.
pozer
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Friday, December 31, 2004
I would like to pose a question to all of you who say that "If we all get on board they'll change!!!". How exactly do you expect them to change (REALLISTICALLY now)? A) Make every song everywhere FREE or ridiculously low priced? B) Give in to the demands and let ppl steal music when they want and do what they want to with it. C) Develop a technology that makes it easy to share files and buy music at a low price? These are the main solutions that ppl might think of, but what you don't see is these problems: A) The recording industry is now set up to fail and die, in which case music as you know it will be destroyed. Artists will rely on thousands of different private companies to produce their music (most artists don't know much about sound recording equipment in a studio environment, trust me I have working experience in the business). And to protect their investment, they will all develop different technologies to do so, making it where you could theoretically have to own hundreds of different playback devices for every artist you like or even want to sample music from. B) Same problem as A, except that we now have created a culture of theft, and if we let it go unchecked, noone will want to produce commercially. Even the Open Source movement, after years of development, cannot match compatibility and functionality of some commercially available products (like those made by Adobe, Discreet, Pixar, and Macromedia to name a few). What will happen is our society will collapse into Anarchy. Who will stop me from going to your house, killing you, and taking all ur stuff from you? Only you could do so, but if I bring 10 of my friends and their pet AK74s, you'd be screwed--and dead for that matter. C) Sounds feasible right? Isn't this the best solution? The problem is that this is the best solution, but it will never feasibly be accepted. As long as Humanity starts with Human, there will always be a way to steal, cheat, and do what you want to do without getting caught (at least for a while). Any form of protection can be cracked and/or bypassed. Stealing has been around as long as prostitution my friends, and the only one going to stop you from doing it is YOU. Welcome to real life.
hseldon
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
I have the exact same problem as posted here. I can have all the money in the world and all the good will in the world, but simply because I do not live in the right side of the border (I live in Mexico and have a Mexican address on my American Credit Card), I cannot buy music from Apple's iTunes, or from any other on-line music store. What am I supposed to do if I want to legally buy some music that only sells in the US? Should I spend 100 dollars on a trip to the US to buy the music, or should I be able to buy music online like any decent person would? I think that while I am not allowed to buy my music online, I am going to "steal" it... that means, I am going to make digital copies of digital media I cannot digitally buy.
anony
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Stealing music - because, that's just what it is - will pass eventually. Just like what DMAC wrote (It was very informative, btw), the producers and what not will find a way to exploit this, and it's already started. We can already buy cars, groceries, even houses online, it's just that some people are a little slower then others. And to all of you who excuse yourself for stealing music because the cd's are priced too high, when all you want to do is listen to one or two songs or whatever; listen to yourself. You're stealing because life isn't fair to you. That's like saying, 'Oh, because I'm poor, and things cost too much to buy (damn economical bullshit!), I'm going to just steal! And if everyone thinks like me, eventually the people that make this world go round will lower their prices!' Or, you know - they could raise their prices to make sure they make enough of a profit. After all, who's heard of a billionnaire who's suddenly content with making only millions? I steal music, but I admit it and I don't make crappy excuses. I steal music because it's a luxury over actually buying a song, and puts less of a dent on my pocket, even though realistically 25 dollars isn't that much, unless you're some sort of audiophile and buy a shitload of cds. Although, in my defense, I do try to buy cd's once in a while. I know that what I - and a whole lot of other people are - guilty of is really quite bad. We are forcing an unnatural and unhealthy change. If we didn't act like this, I'm sure the producers, in a continuous effort to make some bling-bling, would meet and follow the trends. After all - people didn't suddenly stop buying cars and lingerie, and started stealing them because it was too expensive, for it to come online. Same thing goes with Groceries. I just wished we all didn't steal music and actually bought it. But of course, that's never gonna happen. Anyways, my two cents.
b
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Thursday, October 28, 2004
DMAC....I was wondering where you found the information comparing the music and movie industries. Good point. I was just hoping to read more.
Josh
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, September 19, 2004
NIRVANA RULE!!! GREENDAY RULE!!! hahaha
DMAC
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Thursday, September 02, 2004
well "stealing" music internet isn't what gets you in trouble entertainingly enough. legaly, if you already own a cd, you can download the same songs on your computer because, after all you bought the "license" to listen to listen to that music. what will get you in trouble is sharing, in which you broadcast your information to anyone, whether they bought the cd or not. the main issue is that the record companies don't turn out a product so much as a medium. Back in the cassette days nobody cared because it was worth the trouble of buying rather than trying to hook up to cassette recorders and getting an even lower quality copy. however, in our wonderful age of the internet, information can be shared at lightning fast speeds without any loss of data quality, and thus the cost of creating the medium has stayed the same while the distrubtion has dive bombed. however, just like any institution, those trying to make the most are pertrified of change in their environment. a similiar trend can be seen with VHS. The movie industry was up is arms, claiming bankruptcy due to the "record feature". little did they know they would be claiming have of their revenues from vhs/dvd rentals in the future, greatly increasing their profitability. but naturally they did not want their industry to change. what really tanked were the mom and pop $2 movie theaters. CDNOW beware, your days are numbered. once studios realize how to utilize p2p in a secure environment (which is another story) they will really be making money. think about how you buy music. you don't just try our 3 or 4 cds for $70 knowing that you can't return them, but what if you cold unload with 8 or 9 cds for 10 bucks. Since the increments are so low, people will quickly become addicted to "sampling" songs on the cheap. especially when everybody has their own t1 line and can download albums faster than they can listen to songs. but for now, get ready for companys to moan and groan about the effort needed to get there.
h
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
This is juit everybofyst bullshit everybody is doing it why not me?
Corbin
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Yea, i've noticed that all of the bands that I have heard bitch about the file swapping are sellouts, and thus pretty much controlled by the merchandising companies.
Assassin
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, August 01, 2004
I do think that music prices are way too high. The CD's that I have bought are ones that I only want like 3 songs out of the 15 that are on there. Also, a lot of artists don't really care that there music is getting traded around on the internet and that there not making any profit from that. It is the RIAA and record companies that do care. I've gone to there website and have seen articles about the people that they've filed lawsuits against; such as some 12 year old kid for like $2,500. I say screw the RIAA and continue downloading music for free. Besides, according artist make a very small percentage of the money from CD's, the record companies etc. get the rest. Artists make most of their money from concerts and other merchandise besides CDs.
Ubik40
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Not everything legal is fair. Not so long ago it was perfectly legal to buy and sell slaves, and those transactions were protected by law. Law itself evolves as society changes. It is only the power of society that can force those changes into happening. I haven't bought a single CD in the last five years, and will not do it until the record companies change their attitude towards consumers. If everybody (or at least a majority) will do the same, trust me, they will consider reviewing their policies. You have the power, use it.
Corbin
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Actually, software like Kazaa and souch are perfectly legal. They where designed to share files without copyrights and for use by people who just want people to see their music. It states specifically in the EULA that they aren't responsible for pople putting copyrighted files on the system. They had no intention to promote compyright infringement, and by using the software, you technically agreed to not do that. You are the one breaking the law and going against the company. The company coud actually sue you.
alexandra kotta
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, April 04, 2004
I think people should stop stealing people thoughts and work
Bix
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, April 04, 2004
PRO • People listen to songs on the radio for free, so why shouldn’t people take them off the Internet for free? • Music labels are ripping consumers off anyway by charging $15 or $20 for a CD which costs $1 to produce. • P. Diddy and other artists are already rich, they don’t need my $15. • It’s a lot easier and cheaper to download free music than to buy music in a store, encouraging people to listen to and buy music they otherwise wouldn’t have. • When I buy music, I have to buy the whole CD, instead of just the song I want. • Since 60 million Americans are doing it, why shouldn’t I? A few people have been sued, but they can’t sue everyone. The music industry needs to adjust to a new way of doing business. • John Lennon said: “Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.” • I didn’t know it was illegal. • It’s the software makers, like Kazaa, who are doing the wrong thing. The record labels should sue the software makers. CON • It’s unfair for some people to get music for free while others pay for it. • If artists don’t get paid, eventually they will not be able to produce it. Britney Spears, Missy Elliott and Nelly are among the artists who have denounced downloading as “piracy.” Sean “P. Diddy'' Combs, in support of an anti-piracy campaign, wrote, “When you make an illegal copy, you're stealing from an artist... What if you didn't get paid for your job? Put yourself in our shoes.” • The industry says that downloading has caused CD sales to decline by 14 percent from 1999 to 2001. • It’s against the law. Violators (and their parents) risk being personally sued for damages for the songs they have taken. • Some downloaded song files are corrupted or contain viruses that can damage your computer.

(Editor's note: It's nearly impossible for an MP3 file to contain a virus. MP3s are not execuatble code, so the only possibility is to exploit a problem like a buffer overflow in the player application.)

Omega!
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
I can understand why artists are pissed off about this issue...But music is too expensive. This deal with 1$ a song is good, but that thing about using it on one machine.. thats just stupid.
Craig
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Saturday, February 14, 2004
I think you all need to waken up and seek Jesus. You won't have to worry about a thing then.
Your posts are quite sad really.

(Editor's note: You're right...Instead of basing our lives in reality, we can live in some kind of strange religious fantasy, ignoring all the important things on this planet with the convenient excuse that it should all be left to some kind of higher power...)

Fuzzy
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
The folks in power can make anything illegal. Thats what keeps them on top. Bill Gates started his way to the top by ripping of IBM's DOS software by reverse engineeering it. Now of course it is against the law to do it. This effectivly stops any one else from from making it as he did.

It's all BS.

Jeeo
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Monday, January 19, 2004
you should download songs via WinMX (www.winmx.com), its free and isnt considered stealing and you can use it on as many computers you want.

(Editor's note: WinMX is stealing, just like all other peer to peer music swapping. Unless you have specific permission from the copyright holder, any swapping violates the law.)

Corbin
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
yaknow, napster is back,. it is legal and you can do anything with the music i thnk
superxe
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Monday, October 13, 2003
i had a full cd wallet a year ago, it held 48 cd's.
unfortunately someone stole it. now most of the cd's cost me $25 nzd, some more and some less so i'll use 25 as a rough average. 25*48=$1,200!!!

since then ive kept only copied cd's (yes i know its illegal but so is someone stealing my origonals)

and this paid off well recently, my car was broken into three times, on the third they stole my cd's all 72 of them.


how much is a blank disk to write to, $1 or less, so i lost a maximum of $72, plus mabey $20 or $40 for the cases they were in if they were origonals, i could have lost $1,800 worth of cd's!!!

you can do a lot with $1,800. i say screw'em and copy cd's or d/l mp3 from kazza etc

corbin
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Thursday, October 09, 2003
well, for just consumr music, pcs are pelntey good, wat if you hook up your car to th network, then downloading the file right to the mp3 player
BEatonNo1
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Im sad to say it but Macintosh is the way to go when it comes to music...
corbin
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Saturday, October 04, 2003
yea, if i thnk an artist is very good, ill buy their a;bum. like cky and limp bizkit. plus you get tons of other njuable songs. i thnk thre is goung to be a big cd price cut in the near future. lately i have ben buying more than downloading. tho that just might b because i hav dialup
Omega!
Help Me Not Steal Music!
Friday, October 03, 2003
Have you bought all that music in your playlist?

Do you agree? Disagree? Feel free to leave a comment by filling out the form at the bottom of the page. All comments are sent to me for approval, so hostile and pointless comments will be discarded. I will not discard comments that disagree with me, and I will certainly not edit comments. The only reason I am screening them is to keep the goof-balls under control. Email addresses will be hidden. If you wish to remain anonymous, simply enter "anonymous" for both your email and name.

Name:
Email:
Subject:
Comments:

Privacy Policy

Back To Thoughts Page | Mail Me | Search