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Are Free File Download Services Really Safe

by: Drew Straub

On Monday June 27, 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that Grokster and
Streamsoft, two free file download services, were operating
illegally because they were allegedly encouraging illegal
downloads of copyrighted material.

Encouraging it...that was what the Supreme Court said. These
were free services that were encouraging illegal activity.

Would this have happened if they had had paying customers? In
other words, would a paid file download service be better than a
free download service?

I think so, and here's my reasoning why...

If you consider that every dollar paid is like a vote, then it
becomes clear the paid file downloading services are much more
accountable than free file downloading services.

If you follow my metaphor so far, then you may see how a paid
file download service is like an elected official, and a free
file download service is like a dictator.

Here's how they differ:

1. If an elected official doesn't get enough votes, the elected
official doesn't get re-elected and is "out of there".

2. A dictator doesn't care about votes. A dictator does
whatever they want. And, if you get hurt by what they do....
well, it's YOUR problem.

Basically, it's all about accountability.

A legitimate business has to make money to survive. If a
business hurts people, customers will stop buying from that
business and go elsewhere. And, if people stop buying from that
business, then that business is "out of there" (just like the
elected official which loses votes).

But a free file sharing service can "do what it wants", just like
a dictator, and if they even go to the level of encouraging you
to do things that are illegal, even lying to you by telling you
that it's perfectly legal... well it's no skin off their nose.
It's your problem!

Or so they thought...up to now.

For the first time, the Supreme Court has made these shady liars
legally responsible for their bad behavior.

They got away with it in the past by "advising" people to do
things that were potentially illegal. They rationalized it by
saying "Hey, we aren't the ones actually doing it, so we
shouldn't be held responsible."

But the Supreme Court has finally cleared this up. They are
responsible, and can now be sued for their actions. Even if they
did it for "FREE".

"FREE"... that was the draw that got so many innocent kids
downloading songs, videos, movies, games, etc. illegally without
knowing it. The "FREE" file downloading services were just
exploiting these kids' ignorance.

Paid download services can't afford this kind of behavior. They
look at this as a business. If they start getting their
customers in trouble, word gets around pretty fast on the
internet, and their business will become toast!

Think of this like NetFlix, who doesn't sell download services,
but sends out CDs and DVDs through the mail. What would happen
to them if they "encouraged" purchasing illegally copied movies
or music from them? Yeah you got it... toast!

But the "FREE" file sharing services that are encouraging kids to
do this thought they could get away with this indefinitely
because "they weren't making any money off of it, and after all,
they weren't the actual people doing the downloading."

Nice legal trickery... good thing it won't work anymore!

So... the question still begging to be asked is:

"Are paid file download services better than free file download
services?"

I'll let you take it from here... ;^)

About the author:
=================================================================
Drew Straub invites you check out his new site which he built to
help people find the best reviews on MP3 players and the best
paid membership services to use to find the music, videos,
movies, and games you want legally at:
=================================================================

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More Article Pages 1 - 2

Downloading MP3's Made Easy
by: Keith Kingston

The MP3 movement started out with a huge audience of music enthusiasts on the internet. The MP3 digital music format has had, and will continue to have, a huge impart on how people, gather, listen to and share music.

The MP3 format is a compression system for digital music that helps reduce the size of a digitized song without disturbing the sound quality. Digital music is converted to MP3 format and made available for use, usually via the web. MP3 files can be downloaded onto your computer from the internet and special software, either commercial or freeware. Using your computer and software you can convert digital music from a CD into MP3 format.

MP3 files can be played in three different ways:

They can be played directly onto your computer.
They can be decompressed and recorded onto a CD.
These files can be played on a portable MP3 player.

The advantage of MP3 players is that they are small, lightweight and rugged. They are a great way to carry your MP3 files with you!

With a portable MP3 player, a personal computer, and the appropriate software, you can do the following:

Obtain free or low-cost music from the web.
Create your own mix of music by downloading MP3 files from the web and converting the tracks from CDs.
Listen to near-CD quality music wherever you go.
Listen to more music (up to 10 hours' worth).

If you want to convert your songs from your CDs into MP3 files, you can use ripper and encoder software. A ripper copies a song's file from the CD onto your hard disk. The encoder compresses the song into the MP3 format. By encoding songs, you can play them on your computer or take them with you on your MP3 player. The ripper and encoder software may come with your MP3 player.

The specific instructions will vary with the individual software programs, but the following steps will definitely take place:

Place the CD from which you want to convert songs into your drive.
Select the track(s) that you want to convert to MP3 format.
Convert the selected track(s).
Copy the new MP3 files on to your computer's hard disk.

Now you are ready to download these MP3 files into your portable MP3 player.

Once you have MP3 files on your computer, you can use the software that came with your MP3 player to download the files into your MP3 player. Again, the specific instructions will vary depending upon your software program and player, but you will:

Create a playlist from your MP3 files.
Plug the player into your computer's parallel of USB port.
Transfer the MP3 files according to the instructions.

Once you have downloaded the MP3 files into your portable MP3 player, you are ready to take your music anywhere. Most MP3 players are small, lightweight, and solid-state. Because most players are solid-state, there are no moving parts to break down or skip, so the sound quality is uninterrupted regardless of your physical activity. MP3 players are equipped with various types of headphones or earpieces.

Portable MP3 players can play music longer than a portable CD player. The length of play for a CD player is about 74 minutes, the length of one CD. However, the length of play for an MP3 player depends upon its memory capacity, which can be upgraded on some models. A standard MP3 player can play for about half an hour (32 MB) to a few weeks (40 GB)! Some models can be upgraded with additional memory devices.

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