Is It Legal to Download Music From the Internet?
Music downloads drew heavy heat in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the Napster controversy and now many people are concerned whether downloading music online is a legal process or not. This is a yes and no answer, with both legal and illegal music downloads available online.
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iTunes
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Downloading music off of iTunes is a perfectly legal process and one of the top distributors of online music. The iStore provides millions of songs and new releases from artists every week at an average cost of a $1 per song.
Legal Music Download Websites
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Other legal types of music downloads include websites like Amazon.com, MP3.com and Zune.net. These sites have legally obtained the right to sell downloadable music through the Internet.
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Peer-to-Peer Networks
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Napster was formally a peer-to-peer network, one of the largest sources of illegal music. Downloading music from peer-to-peer programs like Limewire is illegal, because users are not paying for the copyrighted material.
Torrent Downloads
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An alternative to peer-to-peer illegal downloads is by using torrent files to download music. Torrent files typically contain full CDs of artists and are illegal to download because they are ripped copyrighted files.
Copyright-Free Music
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A lot of music is available for the public domain and is perfectly legal. This means that there is no penalty for downloading, distributing and sharing this music. Websites like Freeplaymusic.com and others offer a large library of copyright free music.
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