A question about the acquiring of music.

[gary431]

What I am asking is that if a person is caught downloading music can they tell the difference between illegally and legally obtained music or do they just assume that all of the music is illegally obtained and proceed on that assumption. CAN they tell the difference? Thanks in advance.

[yoda313]

well generally wma and aac are the two main forms of legally downloadable music formats. Now there are some websites that offer actual mp3s in legal downloads but those aren't the majority.

The files will have the license information inside them. Now how they can tell the difference between mp3s you ripped yourself off your own cds and ones taken from file sharing sites I don't know.

[Dv8ted2]

well generally wma and aac are the two main forms of legally downloadable music formats. Now there are some websites that offer actual mp3s in legal downloads but those aren't the majority.

The files will have the license information inside them. Now how they can tell the difference between mp3s you ripped yourself off your own cds and ones taken from file sharing sites I don't know.

The difference lies in the metadata. Usually you can compare hashmarks and look at the metadata and it will usually tell you where it came from.

[guns1inger]

As far as the recording and movie industry in the US is concerned, the burden of proof is on the user to show that they did not acquire said music illegally. The old assumption of innocence is not out the window. They go forward on the assumption that you are guilty until you can prove otherwise.