Was The Pirate Bay Trial Judge Bias

Last week, we had a post called File Sharing Service Owners Sentenced to Prison which had 4 men prosecuted and sentenced to 1 year in jail along with a fine totalling roughly $3.6 million for starting and operating a Swedish BitTorrent site, The Pirate Bay, which helped users find pirated software and files leading to illegal downloads, and so a copyright infringement towards the entertainment industry. Why people are not yet making the switch to legal music download services, I don't know. Here's the follow up.

The defence for the case is demanding a retrial saying the judge for the trial was bias as he is a participant in the Swedish Association of Copyright, along with a board member of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Copyright, and if that's not enough, a member of .SE which is the Internet Infrastructure Foundation. Talk about a conflict of interest.

Bias or not, illegal music downloads are way out of hand. I understand there needs to be an example made out of someone but it is still the user's fault in my opinion. You don't go suing a sports store because a customer bought a bat and broke into someone's home with it, you should go after the customer who decided to make an illegal action with something the sports store was offering.

In a way I'm hoping someone is made an example of to a certain extent perhaps with a warning to monitor operations and illegal music downloads going on with a file sharing software or BitTorrent site and being obliged to report such users who are taking advantage of these services in an illegal way, but I wouldn't be ready to send these guys to jail as even file sharing sites could have great use in legal ways to transfer free material without any copyright on it. Maybe start up bands look to put out free music for everyone to download. These sites can help them promote their material which they are giving out for free so why take them completely off the net?

It's a touchy subject, always was, but either way, to anyone who wants to download music, forget about file sharing and BitTorrent sites as the actions you are doing to get free copyrighted materials off of these sites is illegal. Find yourself a solid music download services and stick to it.

iTunes Pass Benefits Who Really

iTunes is now offering a new music product - iTunes Pass. Think of it as a fan club membership you would be able to get for your favorite music group.

When they announced it late February, Depeche Mode was the only band available. For $18.99, you would get everything the band puts out on iTunes until June 16, 2009 which includes the new single, some promo materials (ex. remixes, videos, etc ...), and the Sounds of the Universe album when it's made available.

iTunes says the cost of the pass would always be less expensive than what you would get for it, but lately with their new pricing model that increased per-song prices by %30, I find it hard to believe any product they put out is in the best interest of the customer. Someone has done the math on this and you can bet it's going to bring iTunes another great source of revenue. Hopefully they will at least follow through and the pass will be a positive addition for all true fans out there that can't get enough of their favourite music group since, as a concept, I can see it as very attractive to both music groups and fans.

Jack Black Speaks Up on Piracy

This video went up a little while ago and I figured it was fitting to share due to all the recent progress going on in the fight against file sharing and piracy like the File Sharing Service Owners Sentenced to Prison, or the New Law in Sweden Against File Sharing.

Whether you're a fan of Jack Black or not, take a look:

Jack Black Speaks Up on Piracy



I think it's awesome another artist speaks up on piracy. When it comes down to it, though he still delivers it in a funny way, the message is right on. Artists work hard to create movies, music, and other forms of art. You wouldn't steal a CD from a store or movie from the shelves and using a file sharing site or program to pass on copyrighted material without compensating the artist is stealing. How are these artists going to get paid for their work if everyone takes what they want for free?

I read some comments about this that rock stars don't need the extra little bit of money they are loosing out on music downloads. Already, because someone has money doesn't make it any more justifiable to steal from them, but leaving the rich rock stars out of the equation, think of all the bands and artists starting out. They spend all their money to record an album and CD sales have dropped a huge amount due to illegal downloads. How can any new artists start a career if people steel from the little they could be making, and how can you expect these guys to go on and record a second album? How do they even measure if it was worth recording it in the first place? Where's the money come from to start touring, or promoting the album?

Quit stealing, use one of the legal music download sites mentioned on our main page. Read through the reviews and you'll see how reasonable being part of one of these services really is. I'm also speaking as a musician trying to get a career started as well so even if you don't listen to a guy like me, if you are one of those people using illegal means to get copyrighted material like movies and music, check out the video and at least admit to yourself your actions are illegal and you are stealing when you could maybe buy that same song for $0.69 or listen to as much legal music as you want for the cost of an album a month with one of the music subscription services we review.

File Sharing Service Owners Sentenced to Prison

First Sweden passes a new music download law requiring ISP's to turn in user's IP address if they are suspected to download music illegally, now they are shutting down one of the biggest file sharing services. Another point for the good guys.

For those new the topic, file sharing services allow users to share any file they want across the net. This is a huge problem with music downloads as it makes copyrighted material accessible to anyone for free, by-passing compensation to the artist and bands working to record them, and ultimately making it easier to steal music online. Unfortunately, there was little to do against these sites but now Sweden courts have taken a huge step.

One of the biggest file sharing services, The Pirate Bay, went to court. The 4 men who started the site were prosecuted and were sentenced to 1 year in prison and fined a total of roughly $3.6 million in damages that they will have to pay to the entertainment companies. Here's the story:

File-Sharing Site Violated Copyright, Court Says - Article from the NY Times.

It's touchy as the ones who started the site were not really hosting any of the files, but did provide a service making it very easy for users to get their hands on stolen copyrighted material by making links to these files available.

Personally, I'm happy about the ruling as it's a nice wake up call if nothing else to users that what they are doing is wrong and if you want a song or album, you need to go the right way and use one of the legal music download sites out there, but at the same time, I feel it's really the users who should be to blame and not the site owners. As an example, sports stores sell baseball bats. If a customer buys one and smashes a car window, the store shouldn't go to court for selling the bat. The action the customer decided to take using the bat was illegal and is where the problem lies, in the same way if people use a service in an illegal way, then they are to blame.

This will be another one to keep an eye on and see if it changes anything but really, if people were using a file sharing site before, chances are they'll flock to another one but at least there's a chance it'll convert a few along the way to give a try to legal music download services instead.

Ad Supported Music Download Site Spiral Frog Shuts Down

We got a lot of emails asking why we never reviewed the 'free' ad-supported music download site Spiral Frog. Our response was always that it seemed like a fragile approach and was lining itself up to making users unhappy. That's besides the fact that they went for deals with the major labels and only 2 of the 4 agreed. Never the less, they went on with a very aggressive marketing strategy for the music download service but in the end, they had to close up shop. The full story:

Ad-supported music download service SpiralFrog enters the dead pool - Article from Last 100.

I have a lot of respect for the guys at Spiral Frog who dove in and gave it a real shot. You don't know unless you try. The only way we'll evolve and get this music industry back on its feet is by people trying sometimes risky approaches that could pay off so hopefully we will see other legal music download sites in the near future with different creative approaches. Till then, I suggest we stick to the legal music services that have been there for years and who we can trust.

Be sure to check out our reviews on all the top legal music download services at our main site:

Compare Music Download Sites

Band Uses Twitter as a Close to Real-Time Broadcast of a Show

A band is making use of Twitter in a new way. They are setting up their CD release to be recorded, quickly mastered, and right away put up on the net and sharing links to the music downloads for each song as close to real-time as possible. Though there will be a delay between the time the song was played and is available, this is a good attempt at using Twitter as a close to live broadcast of a band's show. Here's the full story:

Tech-studded rock band Moonalice offers closest thing yet to live music on Twitter - Article from Venture Beat.

With so many platforms available for bands to promote their music, it's hard to find one to stick to and stay active with but Twitter has definitely created a buzz in the past weeks and months and is prooving once again that it is a fun networking site with many possibilities, now sharing music downloads and making them available practically in real-time.

On that note, you can visit our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/TopMusicSites if you are already part of the networking community. If not, what are you waiting for!

iTunes Goes DRM Free and Removes DRM Restrictions

Good news for iTunes users. After a long wait, Apple is following through with their promise and working to remove DRM (Digital Rights Managed) restrictions on their entire catalogue. 8 million tunes done for the music download service, just 2 million to go. Catch the full story:

iTunes Gets DRM Free, New Prices, Purchase Over 3G - Article from Gizmodo.

Coming at the same time as the new iTunes Variable Pricing model, this is a move in the positive direction answering to the customer's demands as before, with DRM restrictions, when people would download music with them, the files would have limitations to how many computers the song could be on at once, or how many times it could be burned to disk. These restrictions would also limit the type of devices you could use to listen back to the music purchased. For iTunes, this is all a thing of the past.

Check out our iTunes Review for a look at what our reviewers think.

A friendly tip, if you download more than an album's worth of music a month, it is much more cost efficient to go with one of the music subscription services reviewed on our site. Only legal sites are reviewed and we take a look at everything from music selection to customer service. Take a look at some of our top sites:

Music Subscription Sites:

Rhapsody Review
Napster Review
eMusic Review

Alternative Pay-Per-Song Site:

If you haven't checked them out yet and are still convinced on the pay-per-song model, read the following review and compare it to our iTunes Review. We might just convert you:

Amazon MP3 Review

Legal Music Downloads Up in Sweden Due to New Law

Legal Music Downloads jump a huge amount in Sweden after the ISPs stepped in following a new law. Here's the full scoop:

Legal Music Downloads Soar in Sweden - Article from CD Freaks.

The iPRED law was put into place to help stop illegal file transfers, music being one of the major culprits, which infringe on copyright law. It requires internet service providers to give user's IP if they suspect illegal files are being transferred. Within a week, legal music downloads have increased an astonishing 100%!

It will be interesting to see if this is only due to people trying out the legal route to see what it's all about so very possibly a temporary boost of interest in the legal music download world. Ways around the bill like pirated software is already making its way available to counter this effort.

We'll have to wait and see how this pans out but one thing is for sure, it's an eye opener if nothing else to some of the legal music download sites out there for the people in the area who may have never looked into it if not for the new law. A step in the right direction I think ...

Universal and YouTube to Start a New Music Download Service

Looks like there will be a new site to add to the list of music download services ...

Perhaps not the first 2 companies that would come to mind in a joint venture such as this but seems like Universal Music Group will be partnering up with YouTube to start a new music download service called VEVO. Read the scoop:

Universal joins with YouTube for new download service - Article from The Insider.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out. We'll keep you posted and who knows, maybe in the near future, you'll be seeing VEVO reviewed at our main music download site.

iTune's Variable Pricing Model More Costly than Amazon

This Tuesday, iTunes introduced a new 'variable pricing' model where, in brief, according to the popularity of the digital track, prices would range from $0.69 to $1.29 for the bigger sellers. Here's an article from LA Times to get you up to speed:

ITunes' variable pricing gives Amazon's music store a leg up - Article from http://www.latimes.com/.

The interesting part is that Amazon, iTune's biggest competition, still has the popular tracks at the good old $0.99. Perhaps it's simply a delay and the 2nd most used music download site Amazon will soon follow as did Wal-Mart, but if not, this could be the kick Amazon needs to take an even bigger piece of the pie from the online music download world which right now is split roughly 87% iTunes, 16% Amazon. Let's see how this plays out.


Visit our main site comparing the top legal music download sites and read through the reviews for both services, along with the other large players in the game:

Pay-Per-Song Services

Amazon MP3 Review
iTunes Review

Music Subscription Services

Rhapsody Review
Napster Review
eMusic Review

IFPI vs Major ISP in Ireland to Stop Music Download Piracy

Looks like the 4 major labels (EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner) in Ireland, along side the IFPI are in legal proceedings against Eircom, Ireland's largest internet service provider in an attempt to have the ISP step in using filtering technology to block it's users from music download piracy. I'll sum it up here but check out the full story:

IFPI vs ISP: Piracy Means Less Sex and Drugs for Rock Stars

The IFPI wants to hold Eircom liable for it's user's actions as they make it easy for them to infringe on copyright law and aren't stepping in, while Eircom's position is that as a carrier, it is not obligated to monitor the content of traffic throughout it's network.

I don't blame Eircom for fighting this hard since legal music downloads are practically an unknown term to so many. If they stop users from downloading music illegally which so many got used to, the user simply has to switch to another ISP without this technology implanted so they are lining themselves up to loosing a lot of customers.

Some of the arguments going around are if Eircom should even be considering this tactic? A great comment left by josh.f13 on the original story was:

So if I make a phone call to a friend and agree to make him a copy of a DVD that week, is the phone company part of the problem? And when I drive to meet him at his house, is the car company I bought the car from and the government whose roads I drove on responsible?

I agree something needs to be done to regulate music download piracy and I lean towards the ISP's stepping in personally since if we were talking about much more controversial subjects like the distribution of 'child pictures' and knowledge was out of technology that could filter these users from transferring and sharing these images with a flick of a switch, I don't even think it would be a debate.

Sticking to my point, stealing music is illegal so if we can stop it, what are we waiting for? It's way overdue for people to start using legal music download sites.

95% of Music Downloads Illegal according to the IFPI

I found this article and thought I'd share it with you guys:

95% of Music Downloads Illegal:IFPI

In brief, a report was put together by the IFPI stating that 95% of music downloads have been downloaded in an illegal manner which accounts for roughly 40 billion song downloads!

There were polls conducted to see what would shake people up more and have them stop downloading illegaly. One poll asked if internet service providers stepped in and disconnected accounts found to download music illegaly, or have a 3 strike rule which got a high response of people saying it would drastically change their downloading habits.

One of the points the writer made was that perhaps if companies would dismiss the DRM model (digital rights managed - music downloads with limitations as to how many copies could be burned, or how many computers the song can be on at once, ...) and lower their prices, there would be less piracy. I strongly disagree.

I think the ones who have been downloading music illegaly are in a comfort zone and are used to getting any music they want for free without running into any legal trouble (yet) so why even spend $1 for an album you can get for free?

I guess for a lot of people, morals are out the window for some reason when it comes to music downloads which I can't understand. It's really not that hard to grasp.

Downloading music illegaly is stealing any way you want to look at it. If you haven't yet, check out our main site with loads of info on music download along with reviews of the best music download sites on the net. Only 100% legal sites reviewed and included.

Digital Sales beats out CD sales at Atlantic Records

Big news for the music downloading world, digital sales accounted for more than half of Atlantic Record's revenue beating out physical CD's!

Don't think you know Atlantic Records?

- Simple Plan
- Billy Talent
- Kid Rock
- Bloc Party
- Led Zepplin
- and the list goes on ...

This is big news since this is the first time a major company like Atlantic that physical CD's were bumped down to second place. These guys have to be doing something right as their parent company, Warner Music Group, has digital music sales representing only 27% of revenue.

A few years back, the bigger music labels and majors had the formula down of how to sell albums and promote their artists to make their millions. Ever since the original Napster got in the picture and people became more aware of digital music downloads, things were shaken up. Now you have so many new promotional avenues that are available for all scale of artists (MySpace, Facebook, YouTube ...) that the playing field for getting music and artists noticed is so much larger and available to everyone.

While a lot of the major labels and other large music labels are cracking their heads trying to get figure out a new formula that works with all the new avenues introduced, looks like Atlantic is way ahead of the pack.

You might want to check out this article from the New York Times which goes into additonal details about Atlantic and their success with music downloads and digital products:

Atlantic Records Says Digital Sales Surpass CD's

If you want to learn more about legal music downloads and services available, visit our site at:

http://www.comparemusicdownloadsites.com/

You will find complete updated reviews of the top legal music download sites on the net, answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about music downloads, and questions to ask yourself to help you decide on the perfect service according to your music needs and downloading habits.

Let Me Compare Blog - Intro

My name is Bobby Bisciglia, owner/creator of the site Let Me Compare - http://www.letmecompare.com/ .

I originally started up the site to compare online music download services while introducing people to the online music download world, the legal side of it anyways. The site covers some of the basic FAQ's on the subject with some helpful info but questions have still been pouring in around the basics and to better answer some of the questions which have been repeating, I figured why not a blog?

Aside from the Let Me Compare project, I'm also the singer / guitarist for the Montreal rock band 'Play The Angel - http://www.playtheangel.com/ . I'm a huge music fan overall and always wanted to start up an online magazine of sorts on either the Montreal indie scene in general, but also with some demo and album reviews, opinions, and news on what's going on in the music world today.

This is my first blog post and I'm very new to the whole concept so hope this will be helpful to some, intersting to others, and stay fun for me. Enjoy!