Trusting a music site to download and burn free music
File-sharing programs are the most controversial way to download
and burn free music on the Internet, but file sharing has never
been more popular. Programs like KaZaA, Limewire, Ares,
Shareaza, WinMX, iMesh seem to be the most popular for gathering
totally free music to download. Lawsuits by the music industry
have slowed some of the illegal sharing of pirated music, but
there are new file-sharing programs that use methods to allow
users to be anonymous.
These file-sharing programs are also called P2P, or peer-to-peer
programs. Unlike the old Napster network that ran all exchanges
through a central server, this totally free music download
software, using P2P networks connects users directly to each
other allowing them to download and burn free music.
It should be mentioned that file-sharing programs are not
illegal in themselves, and their creators like to point out
their many legitimate uses. Some unsigned bands use the
file-sharing networks to distribute their music through free
music downloads and many organizations use them to exchange
documents.
Many people are confused about what is legal.
* Are there places to download and burn free music on the net? *
Can downloading music put you at risk for legal action? * Is
file-sharing legal?
It's no wonder people are confused, because the Net is full of
legal music download sites advertised as "napster replacements"
which are 100% legal. Sites like Mp3 Advance, DownloadShield and
MP3 Music Subscription are just a few that offer much more than
just music downloads. The vast majority of totally free music
download programs shared on P2P (peer-to-peer) networks like
KaZaA, Limewire, Ares, Shareaza, WinMX and iMesh violate
copyright laws because the music was posted without permission
of the artist or label.
Since it's impossible to determine which free music downloads
may be legitimate, the only sure way to stay legal is to avoid
these type file-sharing programs altogether.
What is clearly illegal is unauthorized copying of commercial
music. These totally free music downloads usually means songs
that are made from CD's and then put on the Net by individuals
who haven't sought permission from the artist or music company.
What do copyright laws allow? To put it simply, you may make a
copy of your own CD for your personal use. That means you may
record it to a cassette tape or rip it to MP3 files. You may
not, however, give this copy to another person. Many people
believe that if no money is involved, then no law has been
broken. This is false. Whether you give the copy away or sell
it, this is still a violation of copyright law.