The Folly of Downloading Music

I have been thinking a lot lately about all of the issues that come from using the Internet on a regular basis. For the uninformed, it can be a scammer's dream on many fronts. I personally do not use peer-to-peer (p2p) services such as Limewire or any of the other file sharing networks. However, people that I know use them frequently. I was having a discussion with an friend the other day about downloading files from there and how a lot of them are just crapware that pretend to be songs. Those in the discussion were wondering how they would know the difference. So I was trying to explain that just because something says it's a song, doesn't mean it really is a song.

Recently, I worked on a computer of a family member who constantly used a file sharing program. One of the first things that I noticed was these "songs" that were less than 50k. I explained that this is just a trick to get people to download crapware that creates popups, zombifies (is that a word) the computer to spam and who knows what other kind of nastiness. So I was trying to explain that no song is going to be under 50k unless it's in a horrible quality and about five seconds, and finding what you want is likely going to be more difficult since these files seem to be everywhere. My advice was to ditch the p2p and just find a good alternate site for purchasing DRM free music from a legitimate source at a reasonable price. (They do exist, to start, click the Defective By Design link in the right column, or e-mail me for more information.)

The issue that I see with this is a lack of coherent information for the purchaser of a digital music player. I do not use the iPod, but it sounds like Apple has done a good job of making digital music management effortless. While some may argue with the proprietary nature of the format that they use, I would say that they have made the best effort I have observed. I use a rebranded version of the Creative player, and was provided some of the worst software on the planet for digital music management. For me, however, I understood audio formats and could laugh it off, downgrade the firmware and go on with life. (The firmware downgrade was necessary because that version of firmware will not work with Linux) But for the average consumer, they are stuck with substandard software to encode their music and the choices for purchasing music are limited. By default they are pushed to download the music they 1) can't legitimately buy online because it's not available, or 2) have bought and lost for one reason or another or 3) hear from their friends how to download music from p2p.

What they do not hear is how full of garbage much of the files on p2p are and that they can catch any number of illnesses from this content. Also, I do not know if sharing what you download is still turned on by default in these programs, but they could also find themself on the receiving end of a lawsuit and have no idea they were even sharing files. This opens another entirely different rant about how you can be punished more severely for downloading a song than drunk driving, but that's for another day.

I did a google search for various phrases that one might type in when trying to learn about digital file formats. I was presented with ad-laden web sites where the content was difficult to find and generic at best, technical specifications and not a whole lot in between. So at this point, expecting someone with little or no computer experience to make an educated decision about which type of file format is best for them seems difficult at best. I shall now add that to my list of projects -- providing information for those who are seeking information about digital music.

My advice to anyone reading this is not to download music from p2p. There are alternatives.