download mp3's, LEGALLY!!!

[deadrats]

check this out, if this catches on (and there already 2 major labels signed up) we may see the same thing happen with movies and software, such a development be the death knoll for most, if not all, torrent sites and piracy as a whole:

http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/01/freeallmusic-inks-2nd-major-in-free-drm-less...ic-venture.ars

FreeAllMusic doesn't restrict music to the browser (or an otherwise Internet-connected client) like streaming services such as Last.fm or Pandora. Instead, it plans to let users download DRM-free MP3s of songs—legit, legal versions of the songs—that are paid by advertisers. The catch is that users must watch a commercial for each download, and downloads will be restricted to 20 per month (with a cap of five per week, starting every Tuesday).

of course there's no such thing as a free lunch, and even though the advertisers are the ones writing the checks and on the face of it paying for the content, the reality is that advertising costs always end up getting passed on to the customers in the form of either higher prices, lower quality goods and/or smaller amounts for the existing purchase price.

still, there's always the possibility that advertisers may not actually pass on the costs to the consumers if they see the advertisements increasing sales volumes, so it could be win/win/win for everyone involved.

[guns1inger]

And again, only for US customers.

[Forum Troll]

check this out, if this catches on (and there already 2 major labels signed up) we may see the same thing happen with movies and software, such a development be the death knoll for most, if not all, torrent sites and piracy as a whole:

Pie in the sky. When pigs fly.

Napster didn't succeed as a legal pay service, and other than iTunes, nothing else will, ever.

[KneeRow]

check this out, if this catches on (and there already 2 major labels signed up) we may see the same thing happen with movies and software, such a development be the death knoll for most, if not all, torrent sites and piracy as a whole.

dead knoll??? Ha ha!
I get that you meant dead knEll, in which case: HA HA HA! HA HA HA!

Torrents are here to stay. If they go after the sites, first others will spring up (mininova is now monava), and then it will go the serverless P2P road, decentralized and stuff.

If they stop torrents, most people will simply stop downloading. I never bought any CD's before P2P, not gonna start now.

And in light of the industry's ever rising profits, actors STILL get 20 million per flick, Avatars preposterous and insane sales succes, 1.000.000.000 dollars in just 15 days, their argument that torrents hurt their business falls flat with a resounding thump.

Not only will users be more interested in DRM-free MP3s, advertisers are more interested in forcing users to watch video ads before each download.

yah. rrrright. Just and about up to the point when people find a way to block those. APB is a good start.

Just wondering: was forum troll banned because of his above post? If so, I'm curious what was so bad about it?

No "respect" for Big Corp?

[Forum Troll]

[quote="********"]

check this out, if this catches on (and there already 2 major labels signed up) we may see the same thing happen with movies
Just wondering: was forum troll banned because of his above post? If so, I'm curious what was so bad about it?

No "respect" for Big Corp?

Nah, thats just my sly siggie.

[olyteddy]

And how long did SpiralFrog last with their 'advertiser sponsored' downloads? Granted they did use WMA audio with a bit of DRM but...

[KneeRow]

Still, I wouldn't mind watching ads during the downloaded TV shows, if that saves torrents, so be it. We see it now already when they promote their own shows etc.

It's kinda annoying, but I could live with that. However, if the choice is between a show which is littered with ads but downloads in seconds, or a show which takes a day to download but which is ad free, I'd always choose the latter. It's not as if I don't have other stuff to watch. Or to do.