Large numbers of people download free online movies that are protected by copyright, and also download online music legally and illegally from online music and movie downline websites. Most of those that download movies illegally do so for their own use, but many also do so to sell them.
There are no doubts whatsoever that many of the movie DVDs that are sold on sites such as eBay are illegal copies, downloaded using P2P software and copied to DVDs that are professionally printed to look like the genuine article.
Why is it that some online music downloads can be prevented by the use of download prevention software, while most are not? Is this so that excuses can be made for loss of income by an industry that makes billions each year?
Downloading music is very popular, in fact legal music download websites are now responsible for the hit singles charts rather than the old singles disks, tapes or prehistoric vinyl records. As for the shellac 78s, well – if you still have these you can a fortune for them at auction or on eBay. However, when downloading music, are you doing so legally, or are you inadvertently involved in illegal music downloads?
It is a very strange fact that it is still possible to download music illegally using peer to peer (P2P) file sharing software, even though the technology to prevent illegal downloads of music and movies is available. So why is it not being used? Is this because the music industry wants some excuse for something (I have no idea what)? It certainly isn’t because of the lack of technology, so you can’t be blamed if you figure there is some other motive.
Nevertheless, it’s important that when you download music, or even movies, that you are doing so legally. Anything purchased through iTunes should be OK, as should Napster. There are still file sharing systems available that you can use, and these are actually what all the hullabaloo is about.
There are also some legal music download websites, and not all peer to peer file sharing is illegal. The software itself is not illegal, and some new artists will use it to let you sample their work free of charge. You can even download public domain movies and games using this type of p2p software.
Generally, you will pay a membership which could be for a year, two years or even a lifetime membership, after which you can download as much as you like. Most decent software will let you know if the music tracks or movies are licensed for free download, and if they are not you will either be informed or not be able to download them.
You can assume that anything that has been commercially released over the past 50 years or do will be protected by copyright and should not be downloaded, and while the choice is still available, you are advised not to do so. Downloading copyright-protected work is illegal, and you could face a stiff fine if caught doing so. One problem is that there appears to be very little incentive not to do so because very few are caught and millions are still breaking the law in this way.
To estimate that about 0.1% are detected would likely be an overestimation, although it is not you that they should be hunting down but Orientals that are making CDs and DVDs with illegally downloaded music and bootleg movies, and selling them worldwide on platforms such as eBay. It is the movie and music moguls plus eBay and other online auction sites that should be tacking these people who are costing the industry millions, and not high school kids sampling tracks before they buy the album.
Nevertheless, the software is available, it is not illegal to use, and it is only how it is used that is illegal. It can and should be used for downloading public domain files that are either old enough to be downloaded free or are offered by the original artists and writers as free samples of their work. That’s likely how Walt Disney made his first million – from public domain fairy tales.
It is not illegal to download free online movies or music as long as you use legal music download websites and avoid the illegal music downloads that the music industry is still doing little to prevent: they could easily do so by preventing tracks from being downloaded without a license key that could be issued when purchased.