i bet the actual numbers is around 30 million, because everyone i talk to says they download mp3s, also like the story suggests, many people dont admit it. I wouldnt admit it in a survey, id probobly get 25to life for my 6 GB collection!

another thing ive noticed, over the last month or so, i noticed that the number of "fake downloads" (usualy rigged to go static after a few seconds, or the 30 second preview looped around) have dropped dramaticaly. I remember that getting an album durring the summer was almost like a scavenger hunt, i had to sift thru all the fakes for all day before i finaly got the album, i just got an album yesterday in like 15 minutes!

That last part you mentioned certainly is good news. I don´t really condone mass-downloading of music but I don´t like getting fakes either. Lately that hasn´t been a problem though, eMule is nice in that aspect. I download a lot less since eMule is as slow as a cow on stilts.

hence e "mule"- i have dsl and the fastest i get is like 3k a second, k-lite +++ is a great version of kazaa that gives you a 1000 rating so you dont have to share(you cant get in trouble unless you share.

But NOT sharing means that files will become harder to get.

Kazaa Lite is the reason I even gave eMule a chance. It started giving me periodic slowdowns and when I tried to get help from K-lite´s froum I got called a "n00b" who can´t code. So...

While I have heard of spoofed files, luckily have not had to deal with them. I feel your pain in spending the time to get what you would like only to find that you have wasted your time.

As always, RIAA has spent a lot of time putting a happy face on the p2p issue after losing the battle in courts. Truely they didn't make a dent but they did manage to advertise for the very thing they stand against. They are their own worse enemy...

P2P numbers up? Well duh!

After their huge national media blitz against downloading and then suing people they pretty much informed everyone with any kind of access to the net that music can be downloaded for free. Hell they even named the most popular clients to use for cryin' out loud. How dumb is that?

You'd think these morons would've learned from the napster case. Thousands of people who had no idea what p2p was figured out how cool it was after the media latched on to the case.

Even though I rarely use it anymore I still like trusty ol' WinMX.

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I'll probably get the pariah flame job for this one.
I want to see a legal subscription based P2P service.
I want to legally share non-DRM infected files with others.
I want what to choose from what other users on the network share, not what Apple or company X chooses for me.
I'm willing to pay for this service (if it's not stupidly overpriced).
I want to be treated like a customer instead of a criminal by the content industry.
Does this make sense to anybody else?

no, we should all have the right to share anything we want for free, legaly

pcshateme, Maybe music and video content will become the freeware (donation supported?) and shareware of the future? As long as there's a breath left in the Microsofts and Time-Warners of the world you won't see that happen... So, if everything is free, how do the people who actually create worthwhile content make a living? (For the sake of discussion let's forget about bloodsuckers like the RIAA for the moment.)

well, for every person like me who goes on a kazaa download spree when ever we want a new album, theres 20 that shell out 19.99 for it, so forget it, i dont feel sorry for artists, actors or bands when i download a movie or cd. they still make obsene amounts of money anyway so why should i care?

Well, you are right for the moment. Won't argue that one. It seems to me you are only considering the mega stars and big hit stuff though. There's a lot more than that out there. People trying to make a living like you and me. But, the small timers get pissed on by hollywood and the music biz anyway so uh, just ignore this post... No reason to try and change things.

i guess i understand. small local bands that dont make much could get hury bad. i'd be pissed too if i had a small band that made little money, and someone burned our cds, but for the bigshots that make multi millions, (like most of the music i and everyone else listens too) its not a big deal.

At the moment it seems like it´s the labels who are making the bucks and the small artists who get hurt by piracy. But the truth is, the record labels hate loosing money and when they do (because of piracy, among other things) they drop the smaller artists who don´t sell millions. That leaves music-lovers with fewer choices of music and crap like the reular TRL stuff.
Do you think a private band has the resources to produce and distribute they´re music all by themselves? Maybe in a smaller scale, but would they go through the effort if there wasn´t anyhting in it for them? As compared to having access to a studio and a good producer.
So think about that while you mass-download music (and movies for that matter) off Kazaa. You´re not exactly supporting the artist.

The artist is getting screwed whether you buy their disc in the store or download it from a "legal" download service. The only money they may be losing from downloads is the pittance they get from the labels.

Take iTunes for example. Of the .99 cents you pay for a song here's the breakdown:

iTunes: 35 cents
Record Label: 53 cents
Artist: 11 cents

Any service sanctioned by the labels is going to screw the artist. Check out www.downhillbattle.org for more numbers. They should look more like this:

iTunes: 11 cents - they have the least invested in the track.

Record Labels: 35 cents - they're the middleman.

Artist: 53 cents - they created the song and desrve the most profit.

The costs of digital music are miniscule compared to pressing discs, printing liners and physical distribution yet they want full price for a track in lossy format with DRM. There is absolutely no incentive for me to use these services.

My ideal download service:

1: First and foremost the artist gets the majority of the money. They did the work they deserve it. RIAA needs to learn its place in the digital realm.

2: No DRM. Plain and simple. I want all the flexibility of a store bought CD.

3: Flac or Monkey's will be comparable to a CD when burned to disc. I'm not paying full price for inferior sound.

Then and only then would I even consider paying 99 cents for a single track. Discounts should be applied for full albums.

As long as RIAA has their grubby fingers involved these services will never come close to their full potential.

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The main reason that I dont buy cd's anymore is that most have such poor quality of writing that I refuse to pay $15.00 for 1 or 2 songs and 10 to 15 noise tracks. Look at what is popular " I kill yo moma, I kill you, I srew yo sista, then I kill yo dog" WTF there are very few 'total' albums anymore. They brought it on theirselves. Also if I buy a cd I should be able to incorporate songs from multiple cd's onto a burned cd with no extra "illegal" software. So cry to someone else I'm sick of their whining.

I completely agree with askyew. There is little to no decent music being put out by the major labels. It's all manufactured American Idol garbage.

I've been spending all my time checking out more indie bands. These are guys and gals that are putting their heart and soul into their music unlike some fake piece of tits and ass that has all her songs written for her.... ummm Britney.

Anyone who wants to check out a huge catalog of great indie should check out cdbaby.com. Nearly every album has 3-5 tracks you can preview and most discs are around ten bucks. I've bought some truly outstanding discs there. I admire the passion the indies have. The last two I bought from "F" and "Moses McCartney" were a treat from beginning to end.

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Quote:

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There is little to no decent music being put out by the major labels. It's all manufactured American Idol garbage.

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I disagree. It´s true the market is flooded with bad one-hit-wonders and other manufactured artists but you don´t have to listen to that if you don´t want to. There is still a lot of good commercial music out there. You just have to dig through the layer of shit at the top.

As the radio as a source of music has continued to degrade the internet and personal contacts are becoming more and more important when looking for good bands. Personally I just pick up stuff from all around me that I hear and like.