The Daily OrangeOnline downloading easier than ever despite legal issues
By Ben Tepfer
Posted: 9/15/09, 12:56 AM EST Section: Feature
If you live in Syracuse University housing and use AirOrangeX, you should know better than to use peer-to-peer software to download music.
It's well known that the Recording Industry Association of America monitors the distribution of content on college networks for file-sharing programs. SU students have been sued for illegal downloads in the past.
That has not stopped college students from obtaining music without paying. Many blogs now upload and distribute albums and singles. These are easy to download and play on any computer.
Say you want the new Third Eye Blind CD, as I did about a month ago. You don't need LimeWire, or an iTunes account, to get it.
Google, on a preliminary level, searches Web sites, images and news articles but uses more options. And if, per-say, your search were to be about a certain album, you may even find a link to download it.
Google, which is allowing more access to free music, also owns YouTube. Through its growth, YouTube is hosting many music videos, which can be embedded onto other Web sites. One of the problems with this freedom is the ability to actually download the video to one's computer - or even, in the case of a music video, just an MP3 file of the song.
There are numerous sites that allow users to download songs that were intended for online listening purposes from Web sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Pandora Radio.
But is that legal? It's not the same sort of file sharing that p2p software uses, but it does take profit away from the artists. Ulf Oesterle, an assistant professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts in the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries, said not all blog uploads are illegal.
"Many of the MP3 blogs today, they actually get the music from the publicist or the artist themselves," Oesterle said. "That's totally legal and totally fine. However, sometimes bloggers will find a song they like and want to share it."
In the case that a blogger uploads music it is not authorized to distribute, both the uploader and downloader are at legal risk.
It's well known that the Recording Industry Association of America monitors the distribution of content on college networks for file-sharing programs. SU students have been sued for illegal downloads in the past.
That has not stopped college students from obtaining music without paying. Many blogs now upload and distribute albums and singles. These are easy to download and play on any computer.
Say you want the new Third Eye Blind CD, as I did about a month ago. You don't need LimeWire, or an iTunes account, to get it.
Google, on a preliminary level, searches Web sites, images and news articles but uses more options. And if, per-say, your search were to be about a certain album, you may even find a link to download it.
Google, which is allowing more access to free music, also owns YouTube. Through its growth, YouTube is hosting many music videos, which can be embedded onto other Web sites. One of the problems with this freedom is the ability to actually download the video to one's computer - or even, in the case of a music video, just an MP3 file of the song.
There are numerous sites that allow users to download songs that were intended for online listening purposes from Web sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Pandora Radio.
But is that legal? It's not the same sort of file sharing that p2p software uses, but it does take profit away from the artists. Ulf Oesterle, an assistant professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts in the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries, said not all blog uploads are illegal.
"Many of the MP3 blogs today, they actually get the music from the publicist or the artist themselves," Oesterle said. "That's totally legal and totally fine. However, sometimes bloggers will find a song they like and want to share it."
In the case that a blogger uploads music it is not authorized to distribute, both the uploader and downloader are at legal risk.
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