Legal alternatives to illegal file sharing

There are many legal alternatives to pirating music and movies. Pay services are becoming increasingly common and unlike illegal file sharing, they won't get you in trouble.

Legal Alternatives

When you download or share copyrighted material without the owner's permission, you are breaking the law. But there are many legal alternatives that allow you access to songs and movies. To avoid being prosecuted or sued for copyright infringement and to support the artists you love, you should explore the legal alternatives available on the Internet.

Illinois State's BirdTrax Website

Check out the BirdTrax website at http://www.birdtrax.ilstu.edu/ for a comprehensive list of legal alternatives to illegal downloading. BirdTrax has information on legal access music, movies, and TV shows. Made possible by the Digital Citizen Project, it has been said that BirdTrax is "the most complete and fully-explained list of legal, quality media available."

Pay per Song, Album, or Movie

Many online music services allow you to download and pay for individual songs or albums. Among the most popular is iTunes, a service offered by Apple. Amazon.com also offers a large catalog of mp3s, and unlike iTunes, Amazon deals exclusively in DRM-free music. Songs that contain Digital Rights Management (DRM) can only be played on authorized devices, whereas DRM-free music (i.e. music without DRM) can be played on any device, including the iPod.

Most online music vendors allow you to purchase individual songs for between $.79 and $.99 per song (or around $9.99 per album). By purchasing songs from an online music store, you can buy only the songs you want. However, before you buy, you should be sure the songs you purchase will work with your mp3 player. For example, music containing Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) will only work with an iPod (unless you burn the songs to a CD).

Some services allow you to pay for and download movies. Using iTunes, you can buy movies and play them on your iPod or computer. Another online service, CinemaNow.com, allows you to download purchased movies and burn them to DVD (some movies are only watchable on your computer). Amazon Video On Demand lets you rent or buy movies, which are either streamed or downloaded to your computer. You can also watch Amazon videos on a portable device so long as it supports Microsoft's Play for Sure digital rights management (DMR).

Subscribe to a Library of Songs or Movies

Instead of paying for each song or album individually, some companies operate using a subscription model. By paying a monthly fee, you gain access to a vast library of songs or movies. For example, Napster reportedly offers its subscribers unlimited access to over 6 millions songs. Yahoo! Music is now partnering with Rhapsody to offer commercial-free streaming radio for a monthly fee.

One disadvantage of subscribing to a music or movie service is that once your subscription ends, you lose access to the music and movies. However, some subscription services also allow you to purchase songs too, so you won't necessarily be without your favorite tracks, even if you decide to cancel your membership.

Use Free Services

There are also many free services available on the Web, which offer access to music, videos, and television.

Free online radio stations allow you to listen to popular songs on your computer. Shoutcast.com and Live365.com are just two sites with a huge list of free stations. Sites like these may play commercials between songs, which encourage listeners to subscribe (by offering commercial-free subscription services).

Pandora.com and Last.fm are two sites that not only let you listen to music for free, they learn what you like and give you new music that's similar. They are especially nice because you are not forced to listen to commercials.

YouTube and Hulu.com offer a lot of great video content. YouTube is probably most famous for its user-created videos, but TV show clips and all sorts of promotional content also makes their way onto YouTube. Hulu.com is an outstanding new service that offers full-length TV shows and full-length, feature movies for free! Viewers have to sit through short commercials, but no more so than watching the same programs on regular TV.

Do What Works for You

The number of legal alternatives to music and movie piracy is growing every day. You need to explore these alternatives and find a solution that works for you. If you are someone who downloads music and movies illegally, your actions may eventually catch up with you. The RIAA and MPAA are actively suing people who engage in these activities. If you get caught, the "free" content you downloaded illegally will suddenly become very costly.

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Article Information

Article ID: 1161
Last Review: Oct 13, 2008
Type: Article

Legal alternatives to illegal file sharing