Downloading music from the net?

[corin denton]

Some advice please, got broadband, a dvd/cd writer and Roxio software but no instructions! What is the best way of downloading music and how do I do it? Which sites etc? Thanks.

[onedsla]

Try reading this post for some alernatives of Peer to peer sites to download from:

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=74149&f=95&h=0

[corin denton]

???????

Now I'm even more confused?

[anonymous-user]

Right, simply put, downloading copyrighted music from the Internet without paying the royalties is illegal. As such, any organisation offering such downloads is opening themselves up to prosecution for copyright theft and being shut down.

This is what happened to Napster - although it allowed you to share your files with other people and vice versa, it went through a number of Napster controlled central servers which were shut down due to litigation.

The result is a number of other so-called "Peer to Peer" networks that avoid the need for central servers - this way there's no organisation for the lawyers to go after.

The two main examples of this I know of are Kazaa and Gnutella. Kazaa is known for being riddled with spyware and so Kazaa Lite is available that is sans spys. However, there appear to be some problems with Kazaa Lite (not that it will take long for them to be fixed) according to The Register.
Gnutella is an open specification for a peer to peer network and has a number of clients available. Start off with Bearshare and Limewire if you're investigating. Loads more are listed on the Gnutella site under "Clients".

Once you've chosen your software, you'll be able to connect, enter a search and get a list of files to download.

Caveat: Downloading copyrighted music is illegal and not to be recommended. I am not condoning or promoting such activities.

[Plotloss]

Look for Soulseek its the best when it comes to music.

For movies and software use Kazaa Lite K++ and EMule.