Crackdown May Be Slowing Music Downloading

NEW YORK (AP) -- The recording industry's legal onslaught against Internet song-swappers appears to be having its desired effect. The percentage of Americans who download music online has been sliced in half, according to a report released Sunday.


customwire.ap.org...

[Edited on 5-1-2004 by Kano]

...And in a related story, music sales stayed the same(just looked like they increased), due to the fact that the quality of music being churned out by people's favorite artists continued its decline.....

All the P2P are becoming pay services anyway..til they shutdown individual websites or IRC, this will never stop....

They cant take them all down.

When Napster fell.............a lot of new p2p networks poped up.

They can try and scare people into not using these networks, but the technology will still out there and people will continue to use it.

i will never stop downloading and neither will a million other people they can try to stop it but downloading will never stop

yep..P2P will be around...
just go to www.zeropaid.com for proof of that....
Plus, with all the propaganda BS going around, I think the RIAA would print ANYTHING to look like they had a real reason to attack 12-year-olds, 60-year-olds and people who's IPs were stolen...
It's all about the spin control

True. Downloading will never stop. Some people may be sacred and stop doing it but in the end it will still happen.

One day everyone will realize not a damn thing can be done about the filesharing. If they can come up with something to fix that then maybe zapping all illegal cable will be next, then disabling copying rented tapes, etc etc. Not gonna happen in this century.

suck it RIAA


viva la p2p

The point I have is simple.

Until recently most CD's cost around 19.99. That is the same price that DVD's sell for and you get a whole lot more bang for your buck off the DVD. CD's are just too expensive for what they give you. I would gladly pay 5 bucks for the CD's of today but thats all they are worth.

Until they improve the quality of the products they sell I will continue to download.

Woohoo! I think that the reason many people have stopped downloading is because of scare tactics and court battles with Napster, Audio galaxy etc. Also, in the U.K a person was criminaly charged for downloading a nursery rhyme. They can't bust thousands of people but they will make an example to scare a few folks. I continue to use P2p software, although I have notcied that it is not as fast as it used to be even with broadband it can be hit or miss. Usually hit. .

I agree with BlackJackal. I own loads of CD's, but any orginials I own were on sale for £5-£10. Any higher than that is just rediculous.
Even if they do crack down on downloading music/films/games etc. and P2P like Napster there will always be another way around. I doubt they will anyway. Take pirate DVDs/Videos for example - the stalls are obvious all over the place and yet there is nothing done - the pirates get sold and the authorities do nothing but complain.
Besides, new technology is always coming out and being hammered down in price, like the DVD Writer and MP3 player. It won't be long until a new format comes out and then a form of piracy comes out for that too.
I will continue to download music.
I never download anything else though - I buy movies/games because I think they are much more worth their money.
I also agree with the making the example thing with downoading stuff. Did anyone hear about the college kid who got busted and fined a couple million dollars for downloading a film?
There is no way to stop filesharing. I wouldn't even mind if it were made legal and cost somthing like £50 a year to download.

This whole thing hasn't bothered me at all. I download, and will continue to download. I use it as a tool for advertising. If I like the songs I download, I buy the cd. When the record companies decide to stop being greedy and open their eyes to the real reason this all started in the first place, outragousley prices cds (19.99!! Come on!! Thats too much for a DVD..I should know I have 400 of them), the downloading will probably end. When an artist I like releases a new cd, I am at the store the day it comes out to get it. I support the artists I like. Even though they get practically NO money from CD sales....it all comes from touring...anyway, the bottom line is if they lower the prices of cds to where they belong, around 10.00, the downloading won't be an issue anymore.

I'm the same way. I download to check bands out, if I like what I hear, I'll buy the cd. CD prices are outrageous, especially to buy albums from bands on independant labels in most cd shops. They can be upwards of $25. In that case, if you go straight to the label, online, or request a catalog, they can be like 10 bucks.

there's many cd's i bought due to p2p file sharing

It won't disapear

That is the record companies entire claim...that record sales are declining because people are getting the music for free online. That could be part of it, but by no means is it the only reason.

I also download and then buy. For example I originally didn't really like The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I downloaded Can't Stop and now have their album - fully paid for.

I also think that you could look at it like a vicious cycle (looking at it from both sides). Downloading starts, so record companies increase the price a little (from 10-12). Downloading continues - less CD sales. Prices rise a little more (12-14). Higher prices mean more downloads. Price continues to climb. And it goes on like that. I just mean it in a general way. I know a lot of people just use things like P2P as a 'sample', but there are some people out there who download album upon album. Until record companies become a part of P2P the cycle will stay there and the prices will stay at around 20, possibly still climbing (although not at such close intervals).

I've never downloaded any music.

I hate CDs, they cost way too much like $20 for a poppular one and they scratch way too easy. I miss the day when I could go on Napster when it was in its prime and get anything I wanted.
The music industries pushes too much terrible music and I have no respect for them, if I like an artist I buy their CD and see them live. Free music for sampling should be here to stay and free downloading has helped strengthen the underground scene.
Music I was downloading 3 years ago is now being played on the radio as new hits.
I would gladly pay a reasonable for a downloading service that works and has a giant selection AND doesnt come with all the spy-ware that a program like Kazaa comes with.

Have you tried Kazaa lite.
Its a back engineered Kazaa w/o spyware and comes with other nifty features. They say that the real kazaa is putting a stop to it, but it works just fine for me.
Also ircspy is a great place to go.
I agree with whats been said so far, CD's are a joke now. Screw them all, if something is worth paying for I'll pay for it.
If you're at a restaurant and your chicken is rotten, you don't pay for it. Why should I pay to see a crappy movie, or pay to listen to a bad CD. I know theres reviews etc. but everyone has their own personal tastes and quirks. And the radio is fine, but you want to listen to what you want, when you want it.
If it's good, I'll buy.