To summarize, the in's and out's of music downloads sharing of p2p sites are:
The in's -
- cheaper
- more hard-to-find files
- unlimited downloads and burns
- more compatible with devices (i.e., Mac computers, portable units)
The out's -
- more expensive (if you get fined)
- no license agreements with artists or labels. Therefore, illegal to download many tunes
- less quality than what you get from legal sites and CDs
- slower to download - viruses common
- far less features than their legal counterparts
But people frequently ask us..."Could we still get away with it?" That is, without authorities ringing you up?
You could if:
- you do not use the totally free p2p sites - you may be a target from the authorities, AND
- you download only, but never upload - the authorities have never caught, and possibly never will, catch anyone who only download from sites that charge a small fee, AND
- you do not live in a G8 country - including Russia (exception: Canada - more info on why music downloads sharing could be okay in Canada is found here), or other well-off countries
Remember, though. Your favorite artist may be losing out on a lot of dough if you violate his/her rights to collect royalties. I encourage you to use your judgement.
Another point: except for the cost, and the lack of hard-to-find remixes, the legal sites are at least 10 if not 50 times better in many areas than their P2P brothers and sisters.
That said, we have found that the following three are the only music downloads sharing sites worth investigating.
