What music filesharing program should I download?

I am not new to mac, but I am new to music filesharing programs for mac. I used to use limewire extensively on my older PC's. I wanted to know what more experienced mac music downloaders preferred for a program. Just want one that is low on stress and I don't have to worry about a lot of bugs and whatnot.

Thanks for input in advance.

My preferences are iTunes and Amazon.

Discussion of illegal software, music, movie, etc. downloads is not allowed here.

Please see our Community Guidelines including:

Respect copyrights and the law.
Don’t discuss or conduct content theft or any other illegal activity. Period. We follow U.S. law on the forums, so just because something might be legal in your country doesn’t mean it will be allowed here. If you’re ever in doubt, contact one of the moderators before you post.

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The Mac OS is robust in keeping out "bugs and whatnot".

MySpace is now making a lot of music tracks available legitimately, and with the full agreement of the contributing artists. Try MySpace Music: Bands, Music Videos, Concerts, Tour Dates, Musicians, Artists

Magnatune is a great Independent site where the musician gets 50%.

They offer CDs, single album downloads in multiple formats, an unlimited download membership or an unlimited streaming membership.

All pricing is name your own price starting at $5 for albums, $10/mth for unlimited downloads and $5/mth for unlimited streaming.

All music is available for complete listening prior to purchase also. None of that 30 second taste everyone else gives you.

Music Site

bobtomay said:

Magnatune is a great Independent site

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Thank you bobtomay, indeed a great music site.

bobtomay said:

Magnatune is a great Independent site
All music is available for complete listening prior to purchase also. None of that 30 second taste everyone else gives you.

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Nice one bob. Good looking site and love the complete listening part of it ..

Cheers

I apologize, I was always under the understanding that limewire and other file sharing programs were okay to use. That came from a former employers legal dept. That does explain a lot about my former employer though.

Sorry about that.

That depends on what type of files are to be shared. Anything that is protected and copy written is clearly illegal under US law. You can certainly share files that are not. But then again, who uses Limewire and Shareaza for legal downloading?

Go to the Magnatune site as suggest by Bobtomay. It's a great site.

Regards.

He did not specify whether or not her was aiming to download illegal software, music, movies, etc.. This was still discussion over an OS X application, not over specific illegal files. One can easily download files that are intended to be free with peer to peer programs as well as illegal files. Just because it is possible and likely for somebody who is using peer to peer to be downloading illegal files, does not mean that everybody who wants to find a good peer to peer program is intending to download illegal files.

As a moderator, one should not be moderating on what they seem to think intent is, and all of these warnings which could just be innocent reminders not to take the discussion in that direction come off as foreboding to the discussion of the subject entirely, which I'm sure suits some just fine. However, since it is not outside of the rules, I don't think that the discussion should be discouraged immediately upon it being brought up.

That's just my 2 cents.

You make a fair point DR, but I thought bobtomay handled it very well. There are other Mods who would immediately slap a closure on the thread, regardless of intent - alleged, imagined, stated, or otherwise.

Just my 2 cents.

Yes, there are some musicians that give away their music. Practically all open source software is downloaded via torrent. There are indeed some older movies who's copyright was allowed to expire and are now available for legal download. There are even a ton of independents creating videos today and putting them up freely on the web.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of torrent use "is" for illegal/pirated content. For the purpose of getting material that is for sale and someone either just doesn't want to pay for it, doesn't believe it to be worth the asking price, doesn't like to give "the man" any more money and even some that feel they're entitled to get it just because they want it.

There is also no doubt in my mind, that practically every person that comes here looking for a replacement for Limewire (and other similar) specifically for downloading music or movies, knowingly or not, is looking for pirated content. Believe it or not, there are a ton of people out there that don't know this is illegal.

Someone showing up on our door step looking for the best torrent client for downloading music and movies are not looking for their favorite independent giving the stuff away for free. They're looking for a place where they can get that latest commercial song that costs $1 or the latest movie that runs $15-$20 to download on iTunes, Amazon and others for free.

I believe it'd be a pretty safe bet, that those folks asking about this in their first 5 or 10 posts - what they're looking for is indeed pirated material. For me personally to pretend that we only get the 10% looking for legitimate material versus the 90% looking for illegal material would be extremely naive.

If those backing P2P, would come out and make a firm stand against the illegal side instead of only talking about what can be done with the service legitimately, maybe they could help P2P get a better name for itself.

Personally, I wasn't looking for pirated material. I know that probably doesn't sound all that genuine. Look I know what half of my students use the service before and I would be lying that back before the music downloading crackdown occurred that I didn't use Limewire for the same reasons.
There are few arguments that can be made about the use of Limewire or the like that sounds legitimate. I understand the need to curb conversations that would promote illegal activity. That is the mods job in these forums.
I just happened to want to get access to a few local bands music that I haven't been able to find else where (itunes) that were available until recently on Limewire. But that is neither nor here or there.
Sorry if I stepped on anyones toes, but thanks for the suggestions for places to find cheaper and maybe less main stream sources of music.

As a musician, I feel file sharing really evens the playing field and gives the little guy a voice over the big corporate controlled media. I promote my music for free download on Last.fm, really to anybody that asks for it, and encourage them all to share it over p2p networks or by directing friends to the site.

I see all sides here, just gotta look out for my own interests, which include people using p2p.

grizfan24 said:

Personally, I wasn't looking for pirated material. I know that probably doesn't sound all that genuine. Look I know what half of my students use the service before and I would be lying that back before the music downloading crackdown occurred that I didn't use Limewire for the same reasons.
There are few arguments that can be made about the use of Limewire or the like that sounds legitimate. I understand the need to curb conversations that would promote illegal activity. That is the mods job in these forums.
I just happened to want to get access to a few local bands music that I haven't been able to find else where (itunes) that were available until recently on Limewire. But that is neither nor here or there.
Sorry if I stepped on anyones toes, but thanks for the suggestions for places to find cheaper and maybe less main stream sources of music.

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Sorry about that, I didn't mean to make you feel like you were being dragged into something there. I just have felt strongly about the issue for a long time and have done my research for years. Beyond that though, I see so many threads where someone even thinks about asking about a filesharing program and then they get stomped on for discussing illegal activity. In actuality, all they were discussing much of the time is a need for a piece of software that is completely legal to download and use. The illegality comes in the type of use that that program gets put through. However, the program itself doesn't breach any US law. In the rules of this forum it says you don't discuss anything that is against US law, although many of our users are from Europe, so some things slide. Anyway, having filesharing software on one's computer is legal, so I say, discuss away.

grizfan, sorry to make you feel like you're in the middle of it. Don't think that was anyone's intentions here. There are many great uses for P2P/torrents and I believe most of us make use of it for one thing or another.

This is just one of those subjects, that once it's broached in most forums, it almost inevitably crosses the boundary. It's a tough one to try and remain open to new posts, yet at the same time discourage threads from crossing that boundary. It makes for a hard job.

DarkestRitual said:

However, the program itself doesn't breach any US law. In the rules of this forum it says you don't discuss anything that is against US law, although many of our users are from Europe, so some things slide. Anyway, having filesharing software on one's computer is legal, so I say, discuss away.

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This is true.
There is no reason to squelch a conversation or request for a suggestion for P2P or torrent software.
These programs in and of themselves are not illegal.

There are many things that are legal to own, but could be use for illegal purposes.

You can purchase a lock picking kit from a hardware store.
If you use that lock picking kit for getting into a lock that you own, there is no problem.
The second you use that kit to break into the house down the street (without the owner's presence, knowledge or consent), you've committed the crime of breaking and entering.

It's not illegal to own a baseball bat.
Use it to knock a few balls around the field and you're in the clear.
Use it to knock someone's head in and you've just committed assault with a weapon.

Having P2P or torrent software is fine.
Using it to download royalty free, open license material and you're fine and dandy.
Use it to download the latest DVD release of Saw XXXVII, the umpteenth season of your favorite TV show and/or Adobe CS4 and you're an illegal software pirate.

Unfortunately, when it comes to P2P and torrents, it's usually the latter.
We have members from all over the world and we do try to be fair, but we do follow US law here.
Something that may be A-OK in Istanbul or Luxembourg or any other country, but illegal in the US... isn't up for debate here.
If the discussion is heading into illegal waters in the US, the thread will be shut down.

Even if we have nothing more than a hunch or even if we don't suspect the OP of any misdeed, sometimes we simply have to err on the side of caution.

@ any Mod...

What's the take on Usenet then in the US.
As far as I know it's the sharing part that's illegal, and since Usenet clients don't share, it's allowed isn't it?

I know it's a bit of a grey area, but if you look at it in black and white, it's not against the law to download content, as opposed to sharing that content.

I don't want to fan the flames, it's just a simple inquiry.

A pretty good explanation in the wiki related to Usenet. Both in it's original intent and where it's ended up being used. On the legal side, scroll down to the section 'Legal Issues' about half way down the page.

It briefly covers the legal side related to the server owners. It doesn't speak much to the legal side related to those obtaining content.

I am no lawyer and don't know all the ins and outs pertaining to the matter. Let's say for arguments sake that someone puts up a pirated copy of Photoshop CS4 on Usenet. Whether or not the mere act of downloading it is illegal, really is a moot point. The fact of the matter, is that the pirated copy is illegal whether you're the one that put it on the server or you're the one using that copy.

D3v1L80Y said:

This is true.
There is no reason to squelch a conversation or request for a suggestion for P2P or torrent software.
These programs in and of themselves are not illegal.

There are many things that are legal to own, but could be use for illegal purposes.

You can purchase a lock picking kit from a hardware store.
If you use that lock picking kit for getting into a lock that you own, there is no problem.
The second you use that kit to break into the house down the street (without the owner's presence, knowledge or consent), you've committed the crime of breaking and entering.

It's not illegal to own a baseball bat.
Use it to knock a few balls around the field and you're in the clear.
Use it to knock someone's head in and you've just committed assault with a weapon.

Having P2P or torrent software is fine.
Using it to download royalty free, open license material and you're fine and dandy.
Use it to download the latest DVD release of Saw XXXVII, the umpteenth season of your favorite TV show and/or Adobe CS4 and you're an illegal software pirate.

Unfortunately, when it comes to P2P and torrents, it's usually the latter.
We have members from all over the world and we do try to be fair, but we do follow US law here.
Something that may be A-OK in Istanbul or Luxembourg or any other country, but illegal in the US... isn't up for debate here.
If the discussion is heading into illegal waters in the US, the thread will be shut down.

Even if we have nothing more than a hunch or even if we don't suspect the OP of any misdeed, sometimes we simply have to err on the side of caution.

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but it's perfectly ok for adobe to charge you again for using the same software on an other machine but with a different operating system.....these people are just as crooked and criminal as the pirates, they alld eserve each other. i certainly won't shed a tear for adobe when i see their cs4 suite being sold for $1 a cd in asia.

good debate.

I may be incorrect, but are there not some legitimate files available by torrent? Not specifically Limewire-related, but just a thought...

Corbab said:

I may be incorrect, but are there not some legitimate files available by torrent? Not specifically Limewire-related, but just a thought...

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Perhaps you missed the following:

bobtomay said:

Yes, there are some musicians that give away their music. Practically all open source software is downloaded via torrent. There are indeed some older movies who's copyright was allowed to expire and are now available for legal download. There are even a ton of independents creating videos today and putting them up freely on the web.

Click to expand...

DarkestRitual said:

As a musician, I feel file sharing really evens the playing field and gives the little guy a voice over the big corporate controlled media. I promote my music for free download on Last.fm, really to anybody that asks for it, and encourage them all to share it over p2p networks or by directing friends to the site.

I see all sides here, just gotta look out for my own interests, which include people using p2p.

Click to expand...

bobtomay said:

There are many great uses for P2P/torrents and I believe most of us make use of it for one thing or another.

Click to expand...

D3v1L80Y said:

This is true.
There is no reason to squelch a conversation or request for a suggestion for P2P or torrent software.
These programs in and of themselves are not illegal...

Having P2P or torrent software is fine.
Using it to download royalty free, open license material and you're fine and dandy...

Click to expand...