Is Downloading MP3 From File Sharing Programs Legal?

File sharing programs such as KaZaa, Ares, iMesh and Limewire have never been more popular. They are pretty controversial as well. You may have heard of the countless lawsuits against them by music records companies and the MPAA. So is downloading MP3 from these programs legal?

How Do File Sharing Programs Work?

Modern file sharing programs connects users directly to each other allowing them to share and download files. They are also called P2P, or peer to peer programs. Unlike old file sharing programs such as Napster who ran all connections through their servers. That is also why it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly who is downloading what.

File sharing programs by themselves are not illegal. In fact, they are legitimate uses for it. For example, it is used by academy institutions and universities to exchange research data and cross learning. They are also used by musicians and artists to showcase their talents by distributing their music free through file-sharing networks.



Many people are confused as to what is legal to download and what is not. The problem stems from the fact that it is so easy to download illegal MP3 and other illegal files from these file sharing networks that people often do not know they are actually violating copyright laws.

They do not have sufficient knowledge of copyright laws. Current copyright laws allow an individual to rip MP3 provided he or she has brought a copy of the CD. However, he or she cannot give, sell or upload MP3 to others. Beware due to MP3 piracy, record companies have recently developed technologies that do not allow you to rip mp3 from CD. Add to that, they are dozens of websites on the internet proclaiming to be able to download mp3 and movies legally when they are not!

How to determine whether you can download MP3 legally?

Technically, any MP3 posted on file-sharing programs without the permission of the artist is illegal. Most commercial MP3 on file sharing networks are illegal, so my advice would be to avoid them altogether.

There are a few reputable MP3 download sites on the internet you can trust. The most famous of all is itunes from Apple. Napster has a subscription service per month that allows you to download more than two million mp3 legally. Technically, you do not own the mp3 so do not give, sell or upload to file sharing networks.

Bargain DVD Movies

Never Pay Full Price for DVDs Again

There are many articles on the net that perport to advise the consumer on how to buy the best DVD player - and justifiably so, some might say. The sheer volume of choice a new consumer is faced with means that a friendly word in the ear certainly would not go amiss, especially when you have to consider things like SCART, RGB, S-video, Divx, VideoCD, Picture viewers, Dolby Digital, DTS, Progressive Scan or HD Upscaling - the list is daunting and seemingly endless as is the range and disparity in price of all the DVD players on the market. Despite this there are comparatively few guides offering advice on where you can purchase the DVDs to play on them without repeatedly handing over the sometimes extortionate RRP (which can break the £100 barrier if your interest lies with complete TV series boxsets). But fear not help is at hand and the first thing you have to remember is this: Seek and ye shall find.

The internet is literally filled with online stores offering the best available prices for DVDs, a quick search in any search engine for "Cheap DVDs" will bring out the best of these stores available in your locale. The majority of these sites will come with a glowing reputation and offer free postage and packing on all orders (although be aware that some sites, such as Amazon will only offer free postage if you spend more than a preset amount in a single transaction). These sites can offer better prices than the high street for a number of reasons,not least of which being that they are not bricks and mortar businesses and as such dont have the overhead involved in managing a vast chain of high street shops as do the likes of HMV or WH Smith. Many of these etailers are based offshore (Jersey is a popular outlet for many of the UKs most popular online stores, such as www.play.com or www.sendit.com to name but 2 and this means that they also benefit from certain taxbreaks which they can then pass onto the consumer. A highly recommended dvd retailer is CD-WOW, who deal in DVDs/CDs and Video Games, and are actually based in Hong Kong but offer free worldwide shipping on everything

So once you've identified your favourite online stores (and will find that they are numerous), you may be like a kid in a sweet shop - you might see your chosen DVD at a great price in Play.com (£10 cheaper than it was at that high street store you were in last saturday afternoon!!) so you place your place your order and wait for it to arrive, only to find as you skip across to Amazon that they had the very same DVD for another £10 less than you've just paid. Aargh. Quickly you cancel the order with Play and re-raise the order With Amazon with a secret smile and a pat on the back as you congratulate yourself on a lucky find, while you put the kettle on and check your email. But whats this? CDWOW are advertising the same DVD for another £5 less? Yes, shopping smart applies to the internet as much as to the high street. Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of price comparison sites. These are almost as numerous as the stores themselves. The biggies include Kellkoo.co.uk, and Pricerunner.co.uk - two sites that will search the internet and compare prices for just about anything you can buy online. Then there are the more specialist comparison sites which will compare prices on DVD's only - such as dvdbargainalerts.co.uk. You can search for your DVD by your chosen keyword (eg Harry Potter) and the engine will return a list of all matching DVDs (this might include Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix (Single Disc) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2 Disc) ) You can then select which DVD to compare prices for and a list of online stores and prices will be displayed with the cheapest price at the top, another click of the button will take you directly to that store - Simple! The legwork done for you and you dont have to worry about stumbling upon the same DVD at a cheaper price elsewhere.

Finally sites such as dvdbargainalerts.co.uk, or thedvdforums.com, effectively combine the price comparison feature with another popular internet price finding mechanism - the community forum. These are powerful tools for keeping abreast of all the latest bargains using online communities who dedicate themselves to finding and posting the best bargains around, either genuine sale prices or the more lucrative and worthwhile Mis-price - Yes occasionally the online store will muck up their prices and if they do you can guarantee that you will learn about it in one of these bargain forums first. So remember the price can always be right, so long as you can find the right price.