Say bye to free music on the net
IF you have been enjoying free music downloads from the internet, be warned, this may not be so for long
Surfing with Vincent Mugaba
www.newvision.co.ug
IF you have been enjoying free music downloads from the internet, be warned, this may not be so for long. Once upon a time, one would share programmes, music and movies over the internet.
Those were the days of Napster and Audiogalaxy. These peer- to-peer programmes allowed users to access files on PCs of other users anywhere in the world. And the most popular item was music.
Millions of music files keep moving from PC to PC free of charge. This is how some of us built digital music libraries with hundreds of songs. Then the US music industry came down on Napster and it died. But programmes like Kazaa and Morpheus are still in business. The site www.morpheus.com, boasts of over 112 million downloads of the Morpheus software.
The US music industry wants to clamp down on users of such software and the Recording Industry Association of America, has threatened to sue the users of software like Morpheus, by using software to track music any down loads on your computer. This some argue would violate the policy of privacy.
The users of P2P software are not sitting back. Michael Weiss, the creator of the Morpheus has gone political. “The P2P record industry users are pirates, but represent hundreds of millions of voters,†he said. He said that soon they will get involved in mobilising P2P users worldwide to make their voices heard.
Reach author at: vmugaba@newvision.co.ug
www.newvision.co.ug
IF you have been enjoying free music downloads from the internet, be warned, this may not be so for long. Once upon a time, one would share programmes, music and movies over the internet.
Those were the days of Napster and Audiogalaxy. These peer- to-peer programmes allowed users to access files on PCs of other users anywhere in the world. And the most popular item was music.
Millions of music files keep moving from PC to PC free of charge. This is how some of us built digital music libraries with hundreds of songs. Then the US music industry came down on Napster and it died. But programmes like Kazaa and Morpheus are still in business. The site www.morpheus.com, boasts of over 112 million downloads of the Morpheus software.
The US music industry wants to clamp down on users of such software and the Recording Industry Association of America, has threatened to sue the users of software like Morpheus, by using software to track music any down loads on your computer. This some argue would violate the policy of privacy.
The users of P2P software are not sitting back. Michael Weiss, the creator of the Morpheus has gone political. “The P2P record industry users are pirates, but represent hundreds of millions of voters,†he said. He said that soon they will get involved in mobilising P2P users worldwide to make their voices heard.
Reach author at: vmugaba@newvision.co.ug