re: Tom Felton: Where to Find… July 26, 2009

Ok, I’m a little dense, and I just needed to put this up for clarification RE: Tom Felton’s music/Feltbeats:

Tom Felton has released an EP under his own name, In Good Hands, which is the one on Amazon that I linked to. However, Feltbeats has three other albums (though one of those is only a single). They are:

Time Well Spent

All I Need

Silhouettes in Sunsets (single)

These are all available at iTunes and Amazon, as well as at eMusic, which is a fantastic source that I really prefer (it’s cheaper, plus there are fantastic free downloads sometimes).

Please, my one request is that you don’t try to find these tracks on LimeWire. We all know that it’s not like it would hurt Tom financially if no one paid for them, but the Feltbeats EPs from eMusic (or Tom’s solo one, In Good Hands, from Amazon) are already cheaper than the typical $.99 downloads anyway. Plus, if he’s really serious about wanting to study music and continue a musical career after HP, then we should be supportive of that, right? :P

And just so you know, I have downloaded them all from eMusic, and all the songs are as fantastic as the YouTube vids :) Well, maybe not quite as fantastic, because you can’t see him, but still… And “If You Could Be Anywhere” is longer then the YouTube version and it’s amazing! But now that I’m listening to the full album, I think I’m going to have to review the whole thing! Coming soon…

Also, I really do promise to review Half-Blood Prince. soon.

Zoot Suit Riot July 1, 2008

…is playing, and I just realized my stupidity after the last post. Of course you can change the tagline under the blog’s title. Why didn’t I think of that?

Well, eventually, I did.

But the fact still remains, that the whole blogging thing may just be a Catch-22. There’s little motivation to post anything if there’s no feedback, but there’s no feedback if we don’t post anything.

I could bitch and moan some more, but I’m in a much better mood thanks to all the music I’m putting on my computer. I got an eMusic account (www.emusic.com) yesterday… one of the best things I’ve ever done! I love it! Plus, I got 50 free downloads right off the bat. Could it get any better? The only slightly sad thing is that they don’t have any really mainstream artists. That’s ok, because I’m not that interested in much mainstream music because, frankly, it’s crappy. But I do wish I could get some of the classics, like Elvis… because it’s still way cheaper than a CD… and let’s face it, the mainstream artists don’t need or really deserve all the money we’d be giving them if we bought their CDs. The off-the-beaten-track artists do, and they’re not profiting much from this whole eMusic thing, but it’s better than LimeWire for sure.

I wasn’t against LimeWire until I wrote the article below. Even now, I can’t really pinpoint exactly why I don’t really approve of it. If I need a song and don’t have time to purchase it, I’ll still get it from LimeWire (usually only if the artist is mainstream, or if I already have at least one CD by the artist). Yeah, I guess it’s still a little hypocritical. What can I say; I just love my music and will go to any lengths to get it…

So, I leave for California tomorrow (well, technically Phoenix, and then drive up) and I’m just totally stoked. I just hope all this music syncs to my iPod in time, because it was really slow yesterday. The BEST thing in the world would be to see some celebrities there.

I also can’t wait to go to school. Absurd, I know… but if you only knew Evergreen! It’s fantastic.

I’m out. for now…

LimeWire feature article June 30, 2008

This article was written for the same selective-staffed regional high school publication as the article below.

Look no further for T-Pain’s latest single. Look no further for the newest version of Photoshop. Look no further for thousands of downloadable pictures of Johnny Depp, his movies and transcripts of every interview with him.

All are available from LimeWire.

While it was becoming common for a song to cost 99 cents online, LimeWire was gathering a following of people who paid absolutely nothing for their music… or videos, documents, pictures and programs.

It advertised itself as a file sharing program, not a “free downloads!” site. The creators weren’t ambiguous in their intentions for LimeWire’s uses. The website proclaims, “LimeWire is legal software, but it is illegal for you to use LimeWire to share copyrighted files without permission.” And yet, anyone could share any program or file on their computer, and millions across the world would be able to access it and save it on their computers. The software isn’t monitored, and many files are copyright protected.

Created in 2000, LimeWire had been downloaded 3 million times in its first year. Be 2005, it had reached hundreds of millions of downloads, and was one of the most popular programs online. But its fame didn’t come without controversy. Artists and musicians were earning nothing from LimeWire’s users.

People began boycotting LimeWire, but since it’s a free program, this didn’t hurt the company in the least. Arguments surfaced from people claiming that LimeWire was (or should be) illegal, because it allowed people to access music and other media for free, when normally it would have a price tag.

The consequences for downloading files illegally?

“Your activities on peer-to-peer networks such as LimeWire’s may be monitored by copyright owners… Risks include significant settlement fees if you are sued,” LimeWire’s website explains. “Right now, our filtering blacklist is not comprehensive and many copyrighted files may still be available on the network.”

Not every file shared through LimeWire normally costs money. Some are free to begin with, and some are in the public domain.

It’s impossible to restrict the sharing of any files on LimeWire. There is no way someone would be able to segregate all the files that aren’t originally free or public domain. So if the objective is to discourage people from stealing, that is not a solution. Getting rid of LimeWire wouldn’t make any difference either, because there are many other programs that serve exactly the same purpose. Some programs even enable file sharing in much, much larger proportions than LimeWire.

There haven’t been any lawsuits against LimeWire regarding file sharing (yet), but there have been cases involving software companies. One of these is MGM Studios vs. Grokster, Ltd. In this case, Chief Justice David Souter made the statement, “…one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright… is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties.” This reiterates the danger LimeWire users have. If you “share” copyrighted files through LimeWire and are caught, LimeWire is not at fault. You are.

And “getting caught” is not the only danger of using LimeWire or other file sharing software. Users are also in danger of identity theft. One man in Seattle, Washington was arrested in September 2007 for using LimeWire to link to other people’s computers to get credit card numbers. By the time of his arrest, he had reached 83 victims.

If there is any assumption that the creators of LimeWire are selfish and are only interested in their own profit, it might be incorrect. The advanced version of LimeWire, called LimeWire PRO, charges a monthly rate for faster downloads and personal tech-savvy help. But alas, LimeWire is its own enemy! Now LimeWire PRO is available for download through the more common free version, and no one benefits at all.

In all probability, technology experts will devise a way to make copyrighted files impossible to share, within a system where the actual sharing is legal. There are already “protected” files that computers won’t recognize and cannot be shared or uploaded online, but all other files still exist as well.

The moral of the story is that sharing copyrighted files is, and probably will always be illegal. LimeWire is not, and may never be illegal. So if you choose to use LimeWire for downloads, do so at your own risk. It is possible to track downloads today, and it is also possible to track identities through computers. Be careful and safe; don’t go haywire.