LimeWire sued?

[drakefan]

According to FMQB, LimeWire is to be shut down in late June by music publishers such as RIAA. However it may be like Napster and be legal.

It is expected that popular file-sharing site LimeWire will be ordered to shut down later this month, following a U.S. District Court declaring it was guilty of copyright infringement. However, the company is reportedly thinking of following in Napster's footsteps and going legit.

LimeWire managers tell CNet that they plan to transform the site into a legal, digital music store. "It will have unrestricted downloading and streaming," a spokeswoman said in a statement. "It will be easy-to-use and easy to pay for. It will allow consumers to better discover music through advanced search tools, find more recommendations, and have access to millions of songs on-demand."

However, CNet's Greg Sandoval questions whether the labels would want to have anything to do with a legit LimeWire. The RIAA and the major labels are the ones currently battling LimeWire in court and who asked for it to be shut down. LimeWire hasn't shown a new, legit service to the major labels yet either.

CNet's sources also say that the major labels and LimeWire met at least three times over the past 18 months to discuss the creation of a legal service, but the labels were "rebuffed" each time.

Last week, LimeWire's lawyers were given two weeks to respond to the RIAA's motion. Once LimeWire files its response, the RIAA gets another two weeks in turn to reply to that response, though U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood could theoretically make a ruling any time after the LimeWire filing.

Your thoughts?

[Cerbius]

One taken down, another ten spring up. There is no stopping piracy.

[dbt88]

We all want music either cheap or free. I admit in the past I have used LimeWire to load music on my ipod even movies. But since then I have stopped using it. It makes you feel guilty.

[kpasa]

Jun 17, 2010 6:01:58 GMT -5 @dbt88 said:

We all want music either cheap or free. I admit in the past I have used LimeWire to load music on my ipod even movies. But since then I have stopped using it. It makes you feel guilty.

I never felt guilty... just paranoid I was gonna get my ass sued for several thousand dollars. Plus the quality of songs was most likely s**t.

But, yeah. Piracy won't be stopped anytime soon, sadly.

[lalalandmachine]

Its not the cheapness or free things. Music is something i've always thought was a shared human connection not another thing to be make money off of... NOW making your job an ENTERTAINER you should be able to make money off your great ability to entertain us and put on a good show (many artists fail in this area and even pop stars do). That's where an artist should make most of their money... as a side package for the fans you can buy their high quality CD and merch to support your favorite bands. That's what I do. I spend money on my fave artists shows and merch and rep them as much as I can.

[rebel.heart]

Jun 16, 2010 19:37:22 GMT -5 Cerbius said:

One taken down, another ten spring up. There is no stopping piracy.

+1
Why do they even bother with the lawsuits?

[SPRΞΞ]

Limewire is so sketchy now with all the viruses. I haven't used it in a while and the quality was crappy when i did use it. I prefer iTunes now.

it's funny tho when you look something up...let's say...."California Gurls" and at the top of the search column is a file named...."California Gurls and nasty xxx lesbian sex tape". Yea, i'm really gonna download that one, lol.

[Rurry]

I never use sites like LimeWire anymore because the quality usually sucks and there's tons of virus risks. I just fork out the $1.29 for the song on iTunes, it's so much easier to use and you know you aren't going to ruin your computer with a virus. If I really don't feel like paying for the song because I don't think I'm going to listen to it much (or if it's not on iTunes yet) I'll just rip it from YouTube, again, much easier and safer.

[David]

Limewire never made me feel "guilty" it just pissed me off by giving me 1000 things that did not match my search results.

[reidster]

Will it be shut down in Canada where File Sharing is still legal? Nonetheless, I don't use it anymore. I did for a while after Napster and Kazaa got shut down, but found Torrent sites much better. I'm one of those people who don't mind paying an extra 20$ for my iPod (assuming the money goes to the "starving artists") and being able to download music without fear of a law suit. Oh the joys of living in Canada. For the record, I do buy CDs and Singles of artists I especially like.

[$uperb@tDuDe]

Still won't help the music biz recover. In this digital age there are so many ways to get free music they should've done this years ago.

With itunes and the like I don't understand why people can't just fork over the $1.29 and do their part to keep the music biz alive. Especially music enthusiasts.

[Deleted]

I read something awhile back about having music programs where you can get the music for free because ads on the program will pay for the purchases. That sounds like a good idea. Illegal downloading is not going to stop. Its just too easy. People want music and they want it cheap. The music industry is greedy and charges too much. They should find other ways to put the money in their pockets while giving people music for cheaper.

[reidster]

Jun 26, 2010 16:20:04 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

With itunes and the like I don't understand why people can't just fork over the $1.29 and do their part to keep the music biz alive. Especially music enthusiasts.

First of all we are in a recession. Second of all, why should I support record companies who still make millions of dollars, and have huge empires, when I could donate that money to Haiti victims or hungry kids in Africa. You make it seem as if these record companies are a charity and that we should "help" them out. Don't get me wrong I like music, and buy it from artists I support, but touring and merchandise alone give the label (and artists for that matter) more than enough money than they need.

[dbt88]

Jun 28, 2010 12:24:58 GMT -5 reidster said:

Jun 26, 2010 16:20:04 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

With itunes and the like I don't understand why people can't just fork over the $1.29 and do their part to keep the music biz alive. Especially music enthusiasts.

First of all we are in a recession. Second of all, why should I support record companies who still make millions of dollars, and have huge empires, when I could donate that money to Haiti victims or hungry kids in Africa. You make it seem as if these record companies are a charity and that we should "help" them out. Don't get me wrong I like music, and buy it from artists I support, but touring and merchandise alone give the label (and artists for that matter) more than enough money than they need.

Totally not the point. Clearly the person is saying if you want to have music, why is it so hard to fork out $1.29 or even 99 cents per song than trying to illegally download it. Nothing to do with supporting record companies, but rather simply saving music as a whole.

[foxxden]

Jun 28, 2010 12:24:58 GMT -5 reidster said:

Jun 26, 2010 16:20:04 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

With itunes and the like I don't understand why people can't just fork over the $1.29 and do their part to keep the music biz alive. Especially music enthusiasts.

Don't get me wrong I like music, and buy it from artists I support, but touring and merchandise alone give the label (and artists for that matter) more than enough money than they need.

Actually, the labels see little to no money from tours and merchandising unless they got the artist to sign a 360 degree tour.

[mechanicallight]

Jun 28, 2010 12:24:58 GMT -5 reidster said:

Jun 26, 2010 16:20:04 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

With itunes and the like I don't understand why people can't just fork over the $1.29 and do their part to keep the music biz alive. Especially music enthusiasts.

First of all we are in a recession. Second of all, why should I support record companies who still make millions of dollars, and have huge empires, when I could donate that money to Haiti victims or hungry kids in Africa. You make it seem as if these record companies are a charity and that we should "help" them out. Don't get me wrong I like music, and buy it from artists I support, but touring and merchandise alone give the label (and artists for that matter) more than enough money than they need.

Put yourself in their situation. They spend millions on artists with promotion and recording their album and the only way they can keep providing us with quality music and videos is the revenue.

It would be the same principle as you working for a company, but you don't get your money... yet they still make you work.

[Honeymoon]

Jun 28, 2010 12:24:58 GMT -5 reidster said:

Jun 26, 2010 16:20:04 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

With itunes and the like I don't understand why people can't just fork over the $1.29 and do their part to keep the music biz alive. Especially music enthusiasts.

First of all we are in a recession. Second of all, why should I support record companies who still make millions of dollars, and have huge empires, when I could donate that money to Haiti victims or hungry kids in Africa. You make it seem as if these record companies are a charity and that we should "help" them out. Don't get me wrong I like music, and buy it from artists I support, but touring and merchandise alone give the label (and artists for that matter) more than enough money than they need.

Are you trying to be ironic? Cause comparing two things which have absolutely no relation whatsoever in this conversation is a bit stupid to put it mildly, it's basically like saying "there are starving kids in Africa so why should I pay for my groceries when I can steal them?". It's not "charity" to pay for the product you are consuming, do you steal cars too? I mean I've illegally downloaded a few songs back in the early days of Limewire, but that doesn't bother me of what you said as much as "there are starving kids in Africa, why should I pay for my music" is so f**king ignorant of a defense and shows really total lack of sensibility. No offense.

How old are you out of curiosity?

[tony]

Jun 25, 2010 13:46:42 GMT -5 David said:

Limewire never made me feel "guilty" it just pissed me off by giving me 1000 things that did not match my search results.

lol. THIS

[Deleted]

Jun 28, 2010 12:24:58 GMT -5 reidster said:

Jun 26, 2010 16:20:04 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

With itunes and the like I don't understand why people can't just fork over the $1.29 and do their part to keep the music biz alive. Especially music enthusiasts.

First of all we are in a recession. Second of all, why should I support record companies who still make millions of dollars, and have huge empires, when I could donate that money to Haiti victims or hungry kids in Africa. You make it seem as if these record companies are a charity and that we should "help" them out. Don't get me wrong I like music, and buy it from artists I support, but touring and merchandise alone give the label (and artists for that matter) more than enough money than they need.

I wonder how much of the itunes money really got donated to Haiti here

[KeepDeanWeird]

Record companies did this to themselves. Starting by deleting or not issuing singles, which was the way most young music lovers started buying music. Then the charged 19.99 for CD. (I remember walking into a Coconuts seeing that price for Britney & BSB and thinking this is a house of cards ready to fall.) The irony is that by the time legit services arrived, they then created a new market -- plucking tracks -- and not buying the whole album. The next wave will be more arists releasing six-packs several times a year.