By Zach Perras-Duenas
By now, most of the student population at CCSU, and most likely everyone else around the country, if not the majorly populated regions of the globe, knows about LimeWire’s shutdown.
Anyone visiting LimeWire’s website will be greeted with a pop-up message that reads, “LimeWire is under a court order…to stop distributing the LimeWire software….We have very recently become aware of unauthorized applications on the Internet purporting to use the LimeWire name….We further remind you that the unauthorized uploading and downloading of copyrighted works is illegal.”
If you’re reading this and scratched your head because you weren’t aware of the situation, consider yourself out from under your rock and somewhat in the know.
Truth be told, I wasn’t shocked by LimeWire being finished. The reason behind that is most likely because I didn’t care enough about LimeWire to be shocked.
I’ll say up front that I haven’t used LimeWire in at least five years and that most of the music on my current computer came from a friend’s or family member’s computer. Whether or not they chose to illegally download the music is another story for another time.
Yet I’m sure that any student reading this can remember their first experience using LimeWire, probably somewhere back in the glory days of middle school. Hell, I sure do.
And I’m also sure that any student reading this can remember that music wasn’t the only thing they were downloading via LimeWire.
Hell, I sure do…again.
All dirty jokes and memories aside, LimeWire being snuffed out probably pissed off a lot of people, considering the hundreds of millions of users it had. If any of you can picture the geek from South Park’s World of Warcraft episode, do so now. On the other hand, if you were one of those users, I’ll allow a moment of silence for you to lament your loss.
Done? Good, because I’m moving on.
A while back, as in 2006, LimeWire had that whole, “pay to download independent label crap.” It may have sounded like a decent short-term plan, but it crashed and burned in the long run due to the fact that it didn’t apply to major record labels. In reality, it was only a matter of time before they had to kick the can simply because the music industry just wasn’t satisfied.
Again, do I care? Not really. But it has been a major topic of controversy, and I am writing this piece because music is one of the passions of my life.
Still, the major question is this: Will the shutdown stop illegal downloading?
If you want my humble opinion, it would be this: Absolutely not.
I’d be willing to bet money (gambling is illegal on campus, so don’t come looking for me, by the way) that music, porn or whatever else someone’s heart desires is being downloaded as I write at this very moment, and most likely as you’re reading this.
The point is that when it boils down to the nitty-gritty, LimeWire was just one of many illegal downloading programs. At its finest point, its name was synonymous with the word “virus,” just like many of the other free programs out there. And since those free programs are available in an abundant amount, there’s really no saying when illegal downloading will stop, if ever.
I’m sure that some of you reading this know of other places that you can get music for free from and are saying, “LimeWire? Pshaw, I’ve got backups for my backups!” I believe it. Because free music is not, by any means, hard to find, even on reputable websites like the Times.
Know this, though: there are repercussions. While it seems slightly far-fetched, there are true stories from the past of people who were sued for millions because of illegal downloading. Final verdict: Use any free downloading programs at your own risk.
In all honesty, I’d suggest using programs like Pandora or Rhapsody – for the latter, you pay something like 10 bucks a month to download unlimited songs, which isn’t such a bad deal for broke college kids. If you really want to squander your money, though, just use iTunes and pay $10 for a single album. Either way, it beats the possibility of a lawsuit.
But if you’re someone who absolutely refuses to pay for music and are recklessly determined to keep on downloading for free, LimeWire is wheezing its last few breaths until its complete shutdown on December 31, so take advantage of that.
Or just Google the phrase “free music download” and see what happens.