Mp3 Downloads

[wilson steer]

Where can I download MP3 music downloads for free, or is it illegal now?

Also I used to have a programme called Gamat it used to turn a CD into MP3, is that still available or will XP do it I can't seem to figure out how though.

Thanks. W.S.

[Abandon]

There are lots and lots of programs that will convert music discs to mp3 - just buy one of the program discs from Pantip or elsewhere.

For free mp3 you will need a peer-to-peer file sharing program.

Best right now are

ares

soulseek (or is it soulsearch?)

Also Kazaa (beware the spyware/adware official versions)

Morpheus (legal program)

Direct Connect

Bit torrent (for albums)

do a search for peer to peer, or p2p and you will find the links.

But all the above are not legal and you will have to take simple precautions against viruses. Also there are many fake files, and tracking systems if you are in the States.

Apple iTunes offer legal downloads of music, as does Napster, and these are legal and you will pay (typically 99 cents) for each track you get. But the quality is guarenteed and no fake files.

Popular music can be found in IT centres and the mp3 discs will contain a lot of music for about 100 baht per disc

[sbk]

Where can I download MP3 music downloads for free, or is it illegal now?

Also I used to have a programme called Gamat it used to turn a CD into MP3, is that still available or will XP do it I can't seem to figure out how though.

Thanks. W.S.

There are quite a few legal download places but mostly they would be new acts, people trying to break in. I have dialup so I don't bother with downloading music.

As for changing your cd to mp3 I use a neat (free) little program called CD EX, you can also use a player called quintessential player (again free) which will also convert. CDEX can be found at CD EX sourceforge page.

BAH HUMBUG on MS programs!

[hughden]

There are a couple of Russian sites with good quality, reliable and cheap downloads. Try allofmp3.com

[cdnvic]

The legality is a pretty ethereal issue depending on what you are doing with them, and where you are. In most places ripping from your own cds for your own use is fine. In Canada you pay a tax on mp3 players, blank tapes and cds that compensates artists for the use. I use the majority of mine (most of which I own on cd, vinyl or tape also) are streamed and I have an agreement with SOCAN to pay royalties to do so. The country you are in when you download is the law you need to worry about. If you are in a country where its illegal to download mp3s it won't help you that it comes from a country where it is legal.

I've never out of 1000s of files ever experienced one with a tracking system.

I find the bigger IRC networks the best place to get music.

cv

[RDN]

I still use Bearshare and have done for years. You can get it from here: http://www.bearshare.com/

It has two spywares that I am aware of: WhenU and SaveNow. But when they try to access the Internet, I tell my Firewall (ZoneAlarm) to permanently disallow them access.

This post reminds me to check my download folder - I have 5 versions of "All Right Now" by Free, and a couple of "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix to check and add to my CD folder

[bartender100]

Where can I download MP3 music downloads for free, or is it illegal now?

Also I used to have a programme called Gamat it used to turn a CD into MP3, is that still available or will XP do it I can't seem to figure out how though.

Thanks. W.S.

Don't try it, your PC is wide open,do you know they are sueing people though their IP address.

If you do not know what your doing stay away,try IPod for legal downloads.

By the way get a good firewall.

[cdnvic]

Don't try it, your PC is wide open,do you know they are sueing people though their IP address.

If you do not know what your doing stay away,try IPod for legal downloads.

  By the way get a good firewall.

He's behind a proxy, and in Thailand. I've never heard of anyone getting sued outside the US. Better off to tell him to be careful of lightning. Besides, what you do with it and where you are determines the legality.

How do you know he's got no firewall?

cv

[RDN]

Don't try it, your PC is wide open,do you know they are sueing people though their IP address....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He's behind a proxy, and in Thailand. I've never heard of anyone getting sued outside the US. Better off to tell him to be careful of lightning. Besides, what you do with it and where you are determines the legality.

How do you know he's got no firewall?

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've been downloading mp3s from other peoples PCs for years, and they've been doing it from mine - when I let them. Never had a problem - the firewall keeps unwanted people out and the spyware in.

Tonight I got some great tunes from the 60's and I'll continue to do it.

[Abandon]

I've never out of 1000s of files ever experienced one with a tracking system.

I was referring, unclearly, to the US users who were traced via their IPs and sued. Not a problem here, and from what surveys I have seen it only had a temporary effect in the States too. More recently Europe cracked down on a lot of mule and dc servers, and bit torrent sites.

[terdsak_12]

CD-DA X-Tractor is a good freeware ripper to convert CD to MP3 format.

[bino]

For free mp3 you will need a peer-to-peer file sharing program.

Best right now are

ares

soulseek  (or is it soulsearch?)

Also Kazaa (beware the spyware/adware official versions)

Morpheus (legal program)

Direct Connect 

Bit torrent (for albums)

do  a search for peer to peer, or p2p and you will find the links.

After the demise of Napster a friend turned me on to a peer to peer program called winmx. It can be downloaded at www.winmx.com.

I've found it to be an excellent program for downloading mp3 files. You can share and download any file type MP3, MPG, etc. (Lots of movies online if that is your thing and you have a fast connection) It offers multi-source downloading, which tracks all users who have the same file, and switches your download source if your current source goes offline in the middle of a transfer. It has an auto-complete feature that will seek out file sources, even if the computer has been shut down / restarted.

There is a facility to "browse" users files, and a chat option. Best of all, there is no spyware in the program. I've been using it for years, downloaded thousands of songs and have never found any kind of tracking on a file.

I have only recently upgraded to ADSL, it has worked fine on dialup connection. Albeit a little slower. There is a large user base, and it is possible to find just about any song online. I recently found some obscure nightclub bands from my hometown.

To be fair, I have never tried any of the others listed above as this program has always worked for me, better than Napster ever did. You might want to give it a try.

[smclaug]

Yes WINMX is the best one I've found. With Kazaa you often download something that is not what you expect. Also it is riddled with people planting virus's. The speed on it is also linked to the speed of the connection on the PC you are downloading from.

[baht&sold]

The only problem with WinMX (and some others) is the queue's and sometimes lack of 'obscure' selections. I still like Kazaa best for older and hard to find stuff and I use the relatively adware free program kazaalite. The big downside with Kazaa, is with relatively newer music downloads, there's alot of 'fakes' or partial songs salted in between.

Just downloaded 'Girl from Ipenema' Stan Getz, and the amazing melancholy vocals of Astrud Gi Iberto. For a wrap sheet on the portugese language/Brazilian original and english version(s) here's an interesting link.

To test WinMX vs Kazaa, I tried downloading LL Cool J's "Phenomenom". Still 5 cues on WinMX, Kazaa did it in mere minutes.

Edited April 17, 2005 by bahtandsold

[paulfr]

If you don't mind paying, Napster and iTunes are probably great, but both of them refused to let me download because I am in Thailand.

So I pay at MSN Music. Works fine. Pretty good selection. .99cents/song.

I will try out winmx.com sometime soon though.

[terdsak_12]

Just tried this WinMX thing, ok if you don't mid waiting 6 hours to get a song, even with hi-speed conection.

[bino]

Just tried this WinMX thing, ok if you don't mid waiting 6 hours to get a song, even with hi-speed conection.

6 hours? Are you sure? I only posted my original post 5 hours ago...

Some speed tips for you:

When connecting to the network with high speed internet, make a "primary" connection to the network.

Go into the settings -> WinMX peer networks.

Set North America or Europe as Preferred Peer Cache

Change the allocated bandwidth to the max setting; 15 KB/s OUT, 22.5 KB/s IN

Go into the settings -> Search

Change the Default Search Parameters "Any Connection" to "DSL or faster"

Change the Default Search Parameters "Any Bitrate" to your preferred bitrate ( I use equal to 128 Kbps. Higher bitrates have better sound quality, but are larger files to store / download)

Go into the settings -> File Transfers / Queuing.

Change the Max Total Uploads to 1

Go into the settings -> Bandwidth Throttle

Ensure that Limit Incoming and Outgoing Bandwidth are unchecked

When searching, choose the files that have the highest number of users and the highest number "available" in the status column to take advantage of Multi Point downloading.

I am using True ADSL 2.5 MBPS, and consistently get download speeds of 20 KB/s. I have seen it burst up to 100 at times, and crawl a t 2. Bestt I ever got on Dialup was 4. Depends on lots of factors beyond control.

Hope these help you out- no guarantee though!

[sting01]

Winmx settings :

both In and OUT must be set at 80 % of the bandwidth, or the download will be slowed

If you select North America, or Europe, the lag will be huge some days, to have something that stay stable, better to use ASIA. Even if you will have less choice.

Primary against secondary ... Well \depend of your config, depend also of your ISP ... Let say when a DL is starting, the connection is direct. I use to start as primary, that allow me to get my DL ready to start , and after a while I jjump as secondary, the computer feel better, the bandwidth also.

regards

[britmaveric]

Limewire - no spyware or add ons. Great p2p place for all sorts of files. Plus an all important corupt file recongnizer, so dont waste your time downloading rubbish.

[terdsak_12]

OK, trying the Limewire thing now!!!!

[terdsak_12]

Well Limewire seems to be doing the trick, bit slow though.

[Thomas_Merton]

Limewire - no spyware or add ons. Great p2p place for all sorts of files. Plus an all important corupt file recongnizer, so dont waste your time downloading rubbish.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unless Limewire has cleaned up its act since I tried it a year ago, I cannot agree with you.

Try and check you machine with several different adware/spyware detection programs.

Just because one program gives the all clear, does not mean your machine is spyware/adware free.

[bartender100]

Ok,my point which I was trying to make(I should not post after a few drinks)

The OP asked a kind of silly loaded question when he said(no offense Wilson steer,but you do seem to know about computers and the web)

"Where can I download MP3 music downloads for free, or is it illegal now?"

Just about everybody in the civilized world has read about this issue,and knows it is illegal if you don't pay for it.

Maybe someone is looking at the replies and gathering email addresses and ifo of people who say "get free here"

Don't think it can't happen just because you are in Thailand,it started in the US,now the UK and other European countries.

" Music industry 'nails UK pirates'

The UK music industry has claimed victory in its first battle with illegal file-sharers after 23 people paid £50,000 to settle out of court.

The UK internet users, ranging from a student to a local councillor, have admitted putting out up to 9,000 songs each for other fans to download.

The BPI has launched a second wave of cases, pursuing 31 more file-sharers.

BPI general counsel Geoff Taylor said: "We are determined to find people who illegally distribute music, whichever peer-to-peer network they use, and to make them compensate the artists and labels they are stealing from

Fifteen of the 23 used the Kazaa peer-to-peer network, four used Imesh, two used Grokster, one used WinMix and one was on BearShare.

In October, the BPI announced it was pursuing 28 people. But they related to 28 IP addresses and it was later discovered that two people accounted for four IP addresses on their list."

Its very hard to hide on the net,I'll admit I've given downloading advice in the past,but will not again

How many people on TV go to the trouble of using proxies and hiding there IP number,not many I bet.

[britmaveric]

Limewire - no spyware or add ons. Great p2p place for all sorts of files. Plus an all important corupt file recongnizer, so dont waste your time downloading rubbish.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unless Limewire has cleaned up its act since I tried it a year ago, I cannot agree with you.

Try and check you machine with several different adware/spyware detection programs.

Just because one program gives the all clear, does not mean your machine is spyware/adware free.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Use Ad Aware, Spy Sweeper, Microsoft Spyware tool - all clear.

[Thomas_Merton]

Limewire - no spyware or add ons. Great p2p place for all sorts of files. Plus an all important corupt file recongnizer, so dont waste your time downloading rubbish.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unless Limewire has cleaned up its act since I tried it a year ago, I cannot agree with you.

Try and check you machine with several different adware/spyware detection programs.

Just because one program gives the all clear, does not mean your machine is spyware/adware free.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Use Ad Aware, Spy Sweeper, Microsoft Spyware tool - all clear.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I use the first two as well as Pestpatrol Corporate Edition. Pestpatrol finds by far the most "sinners", plus it has a compehensive dbase of background information (www.pestpatrol.com).

I, personally, woudn't trust any P2P program before I had tested it with Pestpatrol, both directly after installation and after a period of use.

FYI (which I'm sure you don't need, but may be of value to others), non of these programs are worth anything unless they are kept constantly up-to-date.

I hope everything is OK with your system.

Edited April 18, 2005 by Thomas_Merton

[britmaveric]

Limewire - no spyware or add ons. Great p2p place for all sorts of files. Plus an all important corupt file recongnizer, so dont waste your time downloading rubbish.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unless Limewire has cleaned up its act since I tried it a year ago, I cannot agree with you.

Try and check you machine with several different adware/spyware detection programs.

Just because one program gives the all clear, does not mean your machine is spyware/adware free.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Use Ad Aware, Spy Sweeper, Microsoft Spyware tool - all clear.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I use the first two as well as Pestpatrol Corporate Edition. Pestpatrol finds by far the most "sinners", plus it has a compehensive dbase of background information (www.pestpatrol.com).

I, personally, woudn't trust any P2P program before I had tested it with Pestpatrol, both directly after installation and after a period of use.

FYI (which I'm sure you don't need, but may be of value to others), non of these programs are worth anything unless they are kept constantly up-to-date.

I hope everything is OK with your system.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have a laptop I use for P2P only, but since I don't have a highspeed connection -it's only worth grabbing music time to time. I've noticed p2p run in cycles - once one becomes popular its time to move on to another.

[pal78]

Ok,my point which I was trying to make(I should not post after a few drinks)

  The OP asked a kind of silly loaded question when he said(no offense Wilson steer,but you do seem to know about computers and the web)

"Where can I download MP3 music downloads for free, or is it illegal now?"

  Just about everybody in the civilized world has read about this issue,and knows it is illegal if you don't pay for it.

  Maybe someone is looking at the replies and gathering email addresses and ifo of people who say "get free here"

  Don't think it can't happen just because you are in Thailand,it started in the US,now the UK and other European countries.

" Music industry 'nails UK pirates'

The UK music industry ............cut........... accounted for four IP addresses on their list."

Its very hard to hide on the net,I'll admit I've given downloading advice in the past,but will not again

 

How many people on TV go to the trouble of using proxies and hiding there IP number,not many I bet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, unusual question. I know most people don't have any moral issues downloading illegal MP3s, but that doesn't make a difference to the law, and it is possible that you will be caught. And perhaps more likely that being struck by lightning.

Short story to illustrate: A lecturer of mine wrote an article on for a web based computer journal. The journal had an open forum at the end of the article to allow readers to comment. One reader took the opportunity to level some serious abuse at the author. At the time a group of his students were on a work placement for their course. He suspected that it may have been one of them. He wrote to the web host for the journal and explained the situation and requested access logs, and he got them. He proceeded to identify the IP address of the poster, and traced it to a company. He then only needed to check which of his students was doing his placement there.

I guess the bottom line is that it's simply not realistic to believe that there is zero chance of you getting caught and prosecuted. If you are happy to take the risk, and can sleep soundly while breaking the law, then Limewire would be my application of choice.

[melus]

Well Limewire seems to be doing the trick, bit slow though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I use LimeWire Pro - it has a turbo charger for downloading. Depending on the number of peers, I can get up to 100 kbps.

[sas_cars]

LimeWirePro is a great program.Second to none if it comes to P2P downloading.For alternates,KazaaLite is the best.But can't compare with LimeWire though.LimeWirePro is in a class of it's own.

[Crushdepth]

Its very hard to hide on the net,I'll admit I've given downloading advice in the past,but will not again

I'd like to know what percentage of people in Thailand don't have anything illegal on their computers - if not music, how about software ?

Personally I can't be bothered with downloading music. CD prices are relatively reasonable in Thailand (though they still suck a fair bit) and I like to have quality control on the music - when I rip it to disk I know its at a nice fat bitrate and will sound great.

I'd be happy to pay to download songs from a record company if a) the quality was very high and the price was reasonable, reflecting the substantial savings in cutting out the production and distribution chain - instead of trying to charge prices equivalent to the physical CD.