Game Developers Go Nuts, Suing Up to 25,000 File-Sharers

#1    Good finally

to many working under these rich developers are ending up in the streets

death penalty for all file sharing except for porn, porn is everywhere now, but

music and software should definitely be a serious offense, no prison time, just death, to many people on this planet anyway so the offenders need to be put in front of firing squads and shot at point blank range.

it is the only way it will stop

I mean if you have seen the real serious damage it has done across multiple industries not limited to family suicides, homelessness and murder, all due to loss of wealth, jobs

the death penalty will stop anyone from doing it in the future

otherwise it will still continue on into the next decade until everyone is out of business.

#2    I am not trying to sound harsh but in some states, like Texas, if you walk into someones home and take their

TV, x box, jewelery and they catch you in the act and shoot you it is perfectly legal

and again like I have been saying before file sharing is on that same level, you are slowly killing off or putting kids, parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, grandparents, aunts and cousins in the streets while you are safetly in your home laughing about it.

I was at a sports bar yesterday with some of my former employees, it is a hangout for programmers, tech guys and we were talking about the harsh economy so a guy had the nerve to come up to us and tried to sell us photoshop, vista, word and numerous other programs at a huge discount, he had 20 dvd's in his back pack, his price was $200 for 20k in programs

I snapped and I smacked him in the head with beer glass, then all hell broke lose, he could fight, but he was no match for 7 angry pissed off programmers and we all ganged up on him and beat him to a pulp

when the police showed up we explained what happened and he was arrested when they saw the dvd's in his back pack, he deserved it.

some of these down loaders are getting really brave now, they are not happy that they got away with ripping programs and music, they are out there trying to sell them in public at bars, on the street corner, craigslist, anywhere they think they can make a sale

this could be the reason why file sharing is under fire more than ever.

#3    @Sarge

C'mon, it has NEVER WORKED nor WILL IT EVER. As usual, in a sign of desperation copyright holders resort to the least common denominator.

People just adapt, while copyright holders do not......

Sue KaZaA users, they go to BitTorrent....

People then use VPN tunnels, PRIVATE TRACKER SITES or simply use private DC++ hubs or shared FTP sites.......

Technology ALWAYS WINS in the end that's why file-sharing lawsuits are doomed to fail.

BTW your example is just retarded, I would have beat him up too for ripping people off, they should just get it for free :P

"7 angry pissed off programmers?" ...too funny.

"....some of these down loaders are getting really brave now, they are not happy that they got away with ripping programs and music, they are out there trying to sell them in public at bars, on the street corner, craigslist, anywhere they think they can make a sale.." ......those are the same guys who've ALWAYS BEEN PIRATES, they're much different from FILE-SHARERS who are adamant that content be FREE.

I think this nonsense you speak is merely a symptom of the sluggish global economy. Nobody's selling any pirated goods where I live here in San Diego, Tijuana's a different story though.

#4    I was in Atlanta GA yesterday for a conference, specifically Buckhead, programmer heaven where many were recently laid off and they are pissed off.

up here anything goes and the laws go back to the 1800's, not a place to have the police on their radar.

and yes there are sellers on every street corner out here, at least that is what I was told from the locals.

#5    It is also known as "hustlers paradise"

#6    Again tell me on how file sharing is not harmful

"from perez hilton"

Jermain Dupri is getting some heat in his hometown of Atlanta!

His restaurant, Cafe Dupri, has gone bust and former employees are claiming that they either were not paid or that checks issued to them by Dupri's business people bounced.

It's also been claimed that the restaurant shut its doors and left its employees jobless without any notice!

If that's true, how cruel!

Dupri's momma managed the cafe on his behalf, and when contacted by reporters she lashed out and said a business is only as good as its employees. If the employees who were complaining worked harder, the restaurant might have done better.

Doesn't momma Dupri sound a little defensive?

Dupri, is cash poor, record sales are in the hundreds of thousands instead of the millions

many label moguls, like Dupri, are trying to get their reality shows bought so that they can ride out this storm

problem is that there are so few time slots and way to many label moguls that are going broke by the minute''

To run a small label ?

you are looking at 100k a month on the low end

I imagine Dupri is spending 1MM a month trying to keep his empire afloat

and if 2.5MM a month is not coming in he will be out of business by the years end

he used to make over 30MM a year.

#7    "...up here anything goes and the laws go back to the 1800's"

"...at least that is what I was told from the locals. "

"Hustler's paradise?"

WTF? Maybe that's why it took 7 of you and your friends to beat up one measly Vista slinging idiot, you're going off the hearsay of "locals?"

Sounds like bootleg copies of Vista is the LEAST of their problems in Atlanta.....wouldn't you agree? I think authorities there have their hands full with REAL problems like drugs, violence, traffic, etc. BTW, who the hell would even want Vista, let alone buy it?

The Internet means software piracy is GLOBAL, the sooner you adapt to it the better. Unless you plan to inspect every single data packet transmitted between users it's a losing battle.

#8    So I guess you really want to go back to the iron age

if this file sharing keeps up that is where we will be in 10 years

#9    this guy had a blu ray dvd it had over 200 programs, not just vista, he had every program out there, including a few my company did

that is what set us off.

to bad his martial skills were not of much use 'chuckle chuckle'

#10    excuse me martial arts skills

#11    Hey...I think I know that guy. Was he driving a suburban with a plasma TV in the back? Or was that you?

#12    It's just that something about that story sounds very familiar.

#13    again tell me that file sharing is not harmful

this is from realestatestalker.com

Damon Dash is going broke

According to the venerable International Herald Tribune, music mogul Damon Dash and his fashionista wifey Rachel Roy are facing foreclosure on a couple of Manhattan condos. Property records show the hip hopping couple own a dee-luxe doo-plex at the Atalanta building on N. Moore Street as well as a triplex penthouse located atop The Sugar Warehouse building on Laight Street.

According to property records, reports and court filings, the alliteratively blessed couple carries a whopping $7,300,000 mortgage on the N. Moore Street condo, which is comprised of two combined units. Mortgage holder Eastern Savings Bank, the entity that initiated the uglee foreclosure proceedings, claims the couple were meant to be making monstrous monthly payments of $78,500, a number that is larger than most people in this country make in an entire year.

Listing information shows that Mister and Missus Dash recently had the 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom Laight Street triplex on the market for $3,650,000 which would have put some paper in their pockets, but the penthouse appears to have been taken off the market recently.

Your Mama can not fathom how a man who recently told New York Magazine that he estimated his net worth to be "around $50 million" could possibly find himself facing foreclosure, but apparently and allegedy he is. Must be some kind of trouble in Mister Dash's hip hop paradise. Or, as we're sure his people will proclaim, it's all just some sort of mistake that will be cleared up toot-suite.

Some of the children surely recall that Mister Dash sold his big Beverly Hills abode in May of 2007 for a reported $3,600,000.

#14    Rhianna is also near bankruptcy, with only $20,000 in available funds.

#15    @Sarge

Im sure none of it has to do with blowing it on Hummers and fancy clothes......

And "Iron Age?" C'mon your an intelligent guy, think about that statement for a second. Information and data is FREELY SHARED, that should be a benefit to mankind....and it means some are unable to make physical games or software that people buy in a store then maybe they should develop alternatives like Google (online software apid for by ad revenue) or MORPG where people pay for schwag.....

Quit crying already, its 2008. do u really want to be repeating this nonsense in 10 years like the RIAA has already?

#16    No soulxtc

Unfortunately these artists used to sell millions and millions of cd's

now they are selling 80% less in stores

you all are stealing from the most dangerous violent criminals out there that would not bat an eye hurting those that steal from them,

and they are at the end of their rope

all of you are opening up pandoras box,

RIAA has been trying to keep that from happening but they have made a bad situation worse.

These label moguls run some of the most powerful street gangs in the world.

what would you do if 100 gangsters showed up at your front door ?

These guys command armies of thousands, gangs in every city, county throughout the world

They are crazzzzyy and very ruthless and violent and I am not talking about the mafia, even the mafia is afraid of them, I am talking about former black, mexican, white street dealers that rose to the top with their multi platnium artists,

and now they are forced to go back to the hood and hustle, and they do not want that life, they want to live in the ivory tower and hang out with folks like me and my friends, dine at fine restaurants, own the high end cars and real estate and record sales was given them that kind of a life and now it looks like the ride is over.

#17    They are not going to protest, all they are going to do is find file sharers, they are not hard to find, and make an example out of them with violence and intimidation, these moguls are far more of a nightmare than the worse bully at your high school.

they will keep it out of the papers, and rumors will spread that file sharing is dangerous, it will stop and then the music business will get back to profitability.

I do not know the timetable but there has been talk in the last week at just about every meeting I have been to, they are trying to find a civil way to stop it but no one is listening, so I suspect it will happen soon.

then again maybe they will give up and let this all go

but I doubt it as fighting and survival has always been in their blood

#18    and they thrive on violence, they love to hurt the weaker man

#19    You're an odd one Sarge, so I'll give you a little tale from yesteryear, in the past there used to be things called 'demos' those 'demos' were used to promote various games and whatnot to potential customers, however you know what happened? Companies realized that they could get more sales by not producing a demo and putting more money into hype, creating an unintelligent purchase.

Now in my case, I pull in software I might be interested in purchasing in the future, and have done so on many occasions, does that make me a felon for wanting a demo of what I'm going to buy, and being an intelligent consumer?

How about trying to put out decent product at a decent price before whining about hip-hopping jivesters who don't give two hoots about anyone but themselves and are getting burned from their lap of luxury.

Plus anyone with half a brain in the music industry knows, artists don't make money on CD sales, they make them on tours and concerts with a bit of icing from product sales at the concerts, as for the labels, sorry but I'm not going to shed crocodile tears for those blighters, they've been ripping people off since their conception and it's about damn time the dog bit them in the ass for it.

#20    no my friend you are wrong

cd sales are detrimental to a labels survival

if you were to work for one you would understand

this is a losing battle trying to let you guys know what is on the horizon

time will tell

#21    @SArge

Again, YOU ARE WRONG....vinyl sales are going up, as are licensing mechanisms for internet radio, satellite radio, etc. not to mention the fact that they still should be receiving royalties from terrestrial radio.

The labels have to figure out a different way to market their music, be it some sort of blanket licensing scheme where you pay your ISP 1o bucks a month lie u do cable and get unlimited music, or other alternatives.

Recor labels no longer MANUFACTURE or DISTRIBUTE music like they did before since music has largely gone digital so its only logical they should be earning and making less revenue, THEY'RE DOING LESS!

Many labels are doing just fine, and the ones that do survive will have learned how to use the Internet to their advantage.

It's illogical to presume that for the first time in history mankind will stop making music simply because it's not profitable to sell compact discs. Its a BS argument and based on faulty logic. Bands will still TOUR - the heart and soul of music - and will still sell their music at shows for fans to show their support.

#22    Funny, I've yet to meet a computer scientist making less than $80 000 a year, most I know make over $100 000. The ones that took a 2 year college course are making about $50 000 or more. I'm not sure who your friends are sarge, but you must all be pretty pitiful not to be able to get decent paying jobs. You know what the first sign of a looser is, they blame all their problems on the world.

#23    he was no match for 7 angry pissed off programmers and we all ganged up on him and beat him to a pulp

heehaahaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Its really hard to take you seriously when you say things like that... and what exactly did your little story have to do with file-sharing? Sounds more like you wanted to give your ego a good boost..

With all the hype being created about rubbish products, its good that file-sharing is around to save the customer.. Take hancock for example...

#24    @MR

I know right? There's plenty of job opportunities out there and I mean it's not like game developers aren't hiring, Xbox 360 games alone are still flying of the shelves, and the Wii? Fuggedda bout it.

@Villiby

I bet it was hilarious, I wish I could've been there............

/right punch

/left punch

/head butt

/kick to the groin

/gutshot

/beer bottle over pirates head

/asskickin

#25    so you beat some guy to a pulp for selling pirated material?

you couldn't just call the cops?

and you're an educated programmer?

what backward redneck violent loser hellhole do you come from???????

#26    I have been a recording artist for the last 30 years, I am also part of a consortium and we own various mid level companies including software and music labels, I have picked up programming skills along the way but I am more of a boss than the help.

I myself live well but I spend 10% maybe 20% at the most of my income on my lifestyle so instead of having 20 rolls royces, I only have 2. instead of 100 mercedes I only have 4, and I only have 3 estates in LA, 2 of which I rent out, and instead of buying a private jet, I rent one from time to time, mostly I fly first class, now if file sharing had not existed ? I would have a lot more of everything which I did at one time.

I will admit that most of these hip hop moguls did set themselves up for long term failure when they were spending over 50% of their revenue on themselves, their entourages and their companies just to show whose boss, and then they would borrow and leverage themselves to the hilt when times got rough because they knew they were going to sell millions of records on their new batch of artists like they had done so many times before in the past,

recession proof right ?

problem was this time it did not happen

they forgot about one thing

file sharing and itunes

you also have to keep in mind that the payday they were expecting this year was to come from record sales, tours movies from 5 years ago, in the record business a full cycle for revenue from artists is 5 years, in movies it is 8 years.

So with that said,

None of them could for see what has transpired in 2008 and they are in shock and awe to say the least when instead of getting billions in revenues, they only got a couple hundred million overall.

When cd's sold for 16.99, record labels used to make $9 a record and overall sales in the hundreds of millions units generating billions in revenue,

now they make $4 a record and sell under a million for the top top artists and the average artists sell around 200k copies

their overall sales have dipped to below 100 million a year since 2002 ?

that is including downloads

for example when linkin park sold 15 million records 9 years ago, now they are selling 1MM tops, how can they stay in business ? It explains why their manager is trying to sell his place, he has to downsize.

as for the bar incident, I feel bad about it now that I am sober and had time to think about it, but then again this kid and many others like him are killing the future of this world.

Also as far as you trying out our programs to see if you like it, that is fine but back in the day when people were forced to buy software we had record numbers in sales, similar to what oil companies are now having so we were able to rapidly expand, buy more buildings and hire more staff, programmers, executives, buy more private jets, lavish homes for the top employees to live in with their families, those were truly the salad days.

Now our sales are dismal and so our companies are 10% of what they used to be, it is a very sad picture indeed.

So you can not blame me for hating file sharing.

btw I come from the oil fields of Texas yee haw !!!!

#27    Everyone:

It is my opinion that poster "sarge2004" is a troll, or an employee of the RIAA. Isn't it obvious?

#28    sarge2004 is the BIGGEST ASS I have heard on the net in a long time....

#29    Sarge is in my opinion a reverse troll, make ridiculous statements to get a return of logical ones. This forces a social change where people think the big wigs are ass backwards and things need to change towards more consumer protection. It makes it really easy to pull off when the big wigs really are ass backwards, also makes it hard to tell if it really is a reverse troll.

#30    Like I said before

filesharing is decimating the world economy

I do not work for the RIAA, I own companies with others that put out products that file sharers are stealing from and it has to stop

file sharers need to be declared enemy combatants, terrorists , they should be without a country

and the real problem here is that the damage they do is not known for at least 5 years

file sharers are like the unseen termites eating away slowly at homes until there is nothing left and it takes years to do amount of damage.

I know it because me and my partners have lost millions and millions of dollars to file sharing and we just found out this year the extent of the damage.

#31    I have a question

in your opinion how many file sharers are there out there now ? I imagine over a billion maybe more ?

#32    Guess what, those billions of people are not all customers. Your companies could succeed if you understood the markets. If you can't adjust your plans in the 5 years in which problems start to arise your company deserves to have crumbled. To be honest sarge, I've never met such a buffoon in my life, the fact that you found success can only attest to how inflated your market was. Now that things are starting to get competitive you can't keep your head above water. That's what happens in all industry, those that can't cut it die.

#33    @Sarge

"filesharing is decimating the world economy?" - OMG, u are serious. The only thing be decimated is the wallets of overpriced record label execs.

#34    BTW sarge, here is what a competent company does when markets start changing

http://www.nexon.net/

#35    http://www.nexon.net/

yes they are taking a multi billion dollar industry and turning it into a multi million dollar industry

very brilliant

#36    Even tho most video games companies like Nexon never make billions, I'll humor you sarge. When you have a market, and you charge a certain price and someone else comes around and undercuts you, thats a sign your charging too much. If you have in the past made a ton of money and someone comes around willing to make less, charge less and undercut you thats called competing. If you don't understand these fundamentals of economics you shouldn't be in the game. Laws shouldn't be made to help protect bad business men, if you can't cut it your out. As you have kindly pointed out, numerous big wigs have hit it big and died, and the market survives.

#37    @ Sarge First of all if companies charged a fair price for movies, music & games people would not see the need to share with one another. Secondly, sharing is not stealing! How much money do you think you should make? Enough is enough! Two Rolls Royce s? I don't feel one bot sorry for your candy ass! Your so-called industry is based upon fear & greed. The very business mode of sales & distribution is outdated & is causing the industry most of it's woes. How dare you threaten people with death 7 violence just so you can turn a buck? Burn in HELL monster! This is changing as people wake to reality. Sharing is caring. Sharing makes the world a better place.

#38    What I am saying is that nexon is one of the many that is taking a multi billion dollar gaming industry and reducing it to ashes

#39    If thats what they are doing, than the industry is inflated. They are taking a product, realizing they can make a decent profit, and taking that opportunity. If you make too big of an overhead and charge too much for your product others will come by and take over the market. That is how the market works. The only way to compete with a higher price is to offer either more value/better service or the perception of such. Otherwise you just have to learn to live in the market, at the price its worth, not the value you would like it to be worth.

#40    Sorry mean to say the only way to compete with a higher priced product, is to offer ...

#41    Starwhite, lets forget about my material possessions for a second

we were employing thousands of employees with real salaries, real jobs, real lives, they were able to raise families there was infrastructure, communities, now it is all gone, and we were charging a fair price the problem is that most of you want FREE software and music, so how can we survive with that mentality ?

also there is no hell

earth is heaven and hell

at the rate you are going I know you are going to be in hell very soon as you are getting smacked in the head by a phone book at police headquarters as you are trying to explain your reasoning on why stealing is okay to do.

file sharing is destroying lively hoods putting folks on the street, so who is the monster eh ?

#42    There is absolutely no way file sharing will ever be stopped because there are too may people sharing. This has permanently changed the industry. It will NOT go back to the good old days when they can charge as much as they want for a music CD. They might pull down a few P2P sites but they always come back. I do not care how many thugs pop out of the woodwork. Sooner or later even the crooked politicians they have bought off are exposed as well. This causes the public to lose even more respect for them.

#43    We are also gettting home addresses and numbers from the ip addresses we have obtained from shareza, limewire, rapidshare

which in some countries we will turn over to collection agencies, so if you get a call from a collection agency demanding payment

it may be from us

This file sharing will end very soon

#44    @ Sarge2004 Technology changes, if you can't change with it then you should get out. Instead you come in here & try N scare people with threats of violence & death. Fact is people have ALWAYS been unhappy, the majority of the price of music, movies & games. SO we decided to share as technology made it possible. IF I buy a copy its mine & if i can share it I choose to. These family's out of work need to go & get a new job, the FREE ride is over, the public has spoken, you people may actually have to 'sing for your supper' as in the old days! Get used it chump. You may kill a few of us but you cannot stop us all! Up your ass with bought off back stabbing politicians & copyrights, they don't work. A new business mode is needed that is fair for one & all. That is reality.

#45    If to many people are embarrassed in front of their families I am sure it will stop overnight

#46    @Sarge2004 so you believe you can violate people's civil liberties? This ain't over yet sucker. I'll see your ass in court! As we speak I am sharing lots of music, movies and oh so many games! And if your so called RIAA Mafia succeeds in killing me as you have threatened to do so, be sure to turn me over so you can kiss my ass!

#47    @Sarge

"We are also gettting home addresses and numbers from the ip addresses we have obtained from shareza, limewire, rapidshare."

UH, crap, crap, and crap....if anything you should be suing them for using such malware infested programs, you're doing them a favor actually.

Good luck with newsgroups and BitTorrent though buddy! Arrrrrrrrrrrr!

#48    I am not going to kill anyone, hitting someone pn the head with a beer glass is far different than killing

we live in a civil world now so at best we can have an arrest made if that.

but I have no doubt that your freedoms are going to get decimated as more and more of you are caught red handed and it is clearly seen to the govt officials how big of a problem that this has really become.

ISP's are starting to give in and provide home addresses and phone numbers under the table so at least that is a start for us

why should we spend millions and millions of dollars to make great entertainment for you and your friends just to give it away

not logical

and the faster way to stop this is to assign collection agencies to every file sharer out there, it is the easiest, the cheapest and the most efficient solution.

sure there are a few dead beats but I know there has to be at least a billion of honest moral folks who would rather buy music or software at our set prices than be caught by us and exposed to their husband, wife, kids, parents, grandparents ever again.

file sharing is stealing no matter which way you slice it and it is a pretty shameful dishonest crime and those that do it need to pay up and be shamed in front of their loved ones so that it will not happen again, so when this operation is put into motion, the collection agencies will be calling file sharers every half hour until they pay up, so we hope that will be enough to stop it permanently.

and when file sharing is no longer in existence you will see as the artists cd's are back up to 18 a pop, they are selling over 5 million records, you will have new copies of rolling stones, aerosmith, prince, michael jackson, linkin park

and millions more will be employeed at better salaries as software companies are back to making record profits and they can share the wealth with everyone

I imagine this will all occur in 3 years ?

#49    any site, bit torrent, news groups all have logs that have ip addresses in them, they never vanish, even spoofed addresses can be dissected.

give it time you will see

:)

#50    @ Sarge2004 Since when did the government become involved with problems in the private sector with a companies profit margin? Hmm, MAYBE since you guys unfairly & illegally payed them off? HUGE campaign contributions, unfair copyright extensions to inhibit fair usage by the public such as the 'Bono Act? You think? Who is really the bad guy here gouging the shit out of everyone? SO you decide to pick on the private sector, the people who made your fortunes eh? So you criminalize everyone. QUOTE: At the top of all this is the rigged, outdated, and unfair structure of current intellectual property laws, all of them in need of massive reform in the wake of the digital era. These laws allow the labels to maintain their stranglehold on music copyrights, and they allow the RIAA to sue the pants off of any file-sharing grandmother they please. Since the labels are owned by giant corporations with a great deal of money, power, and political influence, the RIAA is able to lobby politicians and government agencies to manipulate copyright laws for their benefit. The result is absurdly disproportionate fines, and laws that in some cases make file sharing a heftier charge than armed robbery. This is yet another case of private, corporate interests using political influence to turn laws in the opposite direction of the changing values of the people. Or, as this very smart assessment from a record executive described it: "a clear case of a multinational conglomerate using its political muscle to the disadvantage of everyone but itself." But shady political maneuvers and scare tactics are all the RIAA and other anti-piracy groups have left, because people who download music illegally now number in the hundreds of millions, and they can't sue everyone. At this point they're just trying to hold up what's left of the dam before it bursts open. Their latest victim is Oink, a popular torrent site specializing in music. Unquote Here is the rest of the article I copied this excerpt from: http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html

#51    "ISP's are starting to give in and provide home addresses and phone numbers under the table,".....uh not in the US, they'd be sued into oblivion.

The French always surrender so thats nothign new, but the UK, well wait till people find out that ISPs may disconnect them based on evidence from a biased business concern.

It'll just go further underground. Has already started to, just look at the rise in VPN tunnel subscriptions.

"why should we spend millions and millions of dollars to make great entertainment for you and your friends just to give it away?"

Huh? GOOD MOVIES do just fine, GOOD GAMES do just fine, and lone behold GOOD ALBUMS do just fine.

"and when file sharing is no longer in existence?" How can u stop private individuals from connecting to one another on the Internet? U CAN'T! So long as people can share data they can share music.

And whats with all the Linkin Park nonsense? Now I know u have no clue they had a decent album in years.

"shamed in front of their loved ones so that it will not happen again?"

Pfft, yah, Im sure they'll be real ashamed.

Face it, you're an apparently crappy programmer who's resorted to blaming TEENS using Limewire (yuck) for your lack of employment.

Pretty sad Sarge, Pretty friggin sad.

"can share the wealth with everyone?".....so let me get this straight. They take more money from us to then share it with everybody? Its take from us to give to them silly.

Just as it was sad that it took 7 of you and your buddies to beat up on one guy, you and your buddies are trying to inspect every single piece of data that crosses the Internet to make sure you don't have to go find a real job.

The bottom line is file-sharing will always be around. Get over it.The sooner you find a new job the sooner you and your programmer bullies can stop beating up some poor guy who's sadly resorted to slinging software in a bar. I'd like to see you and your idiot buddies try and jump me or anybody I know for file-sharing.

Capture IP addresses? How do you plan on getting access to EVERY SINGLE SWARM? Its impossible, and in case anonymity is around the corner anyways...http://anomos.info/wp/

(remember that pesky technology thing?)

http://anomos.info/wp/

#52    that is true we cannot sue hundreds of millions of file sharers but we can have letters sent to their homes, we can have collection agencies call them

the government is getting involved because they are asking us

"why are your tax returns 90% off and we say file sharing"

"why can't you contribute to our favorite charities ? and we say file sharing"

we make a product and we need your money to expand our industries, the government needs our money for their own interests and when business drops by 70%- 90% there is no money to pay for military jets, helicopters, weapons or ships for starters and that is when the government steps in and new laws are created.

They are starting to really believe us on how serious this problem is and they are starting to act on it finally, music was not such a big deal to them but software ? that got their interest.

Governments are not interested in those companies that are making millions a year, but when you are making billions a year and paying a large amount of it in taxes through your employees salaries, you are now of vital importance to national security in any country and that government is now your new best friend.

simple economics

#53    "why are your tax returns 90% off and we say file sharing"

"why can't you contribute to our favorite charities ? and we say file sharing" Who's saying this? Its only you and your thug programmer buddies.

Bottom line? You cant prevent individual users from connecting to one another. The rage in fact these days are HDD parties where people get together with booze and break out their 1TB HDD to swap movies, games, and music.....have any plans for that as well?

Exactly.

"we make a product and we need your money to expand our industries?" Huh, there are more music artist than ever, more video game consoles and manufacturers than ever, AND Hollywood has been making record profits each year since 2004.

What are you trying to expand? Jacuzzzis of CEOS and VP?

/conversation

Time for the gym.

#54    and yes you are right about the spoofing of ip addresses

but maybe only 1% are as smart as you, the rest just follow the leader like you off the cliff into the volcano and they are the ones we will nail and they will be the ones that will pay.

Despite of what you think, the US is on our side now and a lot if not all of these operations will be in blackout mode.

again I am not a programmer

you can think of me as a guy that is championing this cause for the little guy who has no money, is broke, getting ripped over and over again by folks like you and everyone else in denial at the harm they are doing.

#55    We have no problem in people sharing, we have a problem in them stealing and that is what file sharing is stealing

you are right we cannot prevent someone from loaning a 20 dollar store bought HD dvd to their friends but we can prevent them from stealing a 900 dollar software program off the net and making 20 copies for their friends to use.

our objective is to create a shock and awe situation with a magnitude that is so great that file sharing will be known for decades as a subject that is completely taboo, like cocaine, back in the day cocaine was legal and everyone was using it including housewives,

why ?

because no one knew the dramatic effects the drug would have on the economy and society in general

now if file sharing was reduced down to lets say 100,000 users we would not care, but a billion users ?

the money lost from them has now put us on the warpath.

#56    You will never get people to think Cocaine = Filesharing because their is an inherent difference between the two. Cocaine has horrible adverse health affects, file sharing does not. If cocaine didn't have adverse heath affects it would be sold all over the place, but it does, so it isn't. No one cares if you think filesharing is harming an industry, every independent study has said otherwise and most consumers are smart enough to realize that fact. Most consumers are smart enough to realize they would of never bought the $900 piece of software if the only way for them to obtain it, was to buy it.

#57    okay

I am done you all have been warned

let the fireworks begin

#58    I think I get it now although I do not agree

Id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead says PC manufacturers see game piracy as a "hidden benefit."

"I think that there's been this dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers," Hollenshead told GamesIndustry.biz.

"The perception of free content -- even if you're supposed to pay for it on PCs -- is some sort hidden benefit that you get when you buy a PC, like a right to download music for free or a right to download pirated movies and games."

His comments follow a string of interviews in recent months with many members of the id team, all of which cite PC game piracy as the key factor behind the company's decision to shift focus to a more console-oriented business model, despite id's strong roots in the PC gaming scene.

#59    @sarge

So you are an RIAA guy? Figures...

"but maybe only 1% are as smart as you?" ...C'mon R u serious? It's not that hard.

#60    actually only about 1% even have the ability to know how to unrar a file, they know how to make a crack work

the others just follow the instructions given.

and no I am not RIAA

#61    another victim of file sharing

Swizz Deadbeatz

Posted Aug 21st 2008 11:32AM by TMZ Staff

How do we know Swizz Beatz is a pretty big deal in the music biz? He's baller enough to owe almost $900K in taxes.

The IRS records show there's a tax lien of $842,644.52 against Swizz (real name Kasseem Dean) and his estranged wife, Mashonda. By comparison, former NFL legend Bernie Kosar owes $228K, and Mini-Me has a $300K lien.

We put in a call to Violator Management, but haven't heard back yet.

#62    This is when the music and software industry was on the edge of destruction

to bad it took 7 years to show the true losses

Music Was Easier When It Was Free

Brad King Email 06.29.01

The first online subscription service that offers major label music will launch near the end of the summer.

Then a few months later another subscription service will roll out. Then another. And another.

By the end of the year, no fewer than 11 companies are expected to offer subscription services. None will offer music from all five major labels. None will offer unlimited listening. Many won't allow consumers to burn their music onto a CD.

Some might not even launch.

Those that do will leave intrepid music fans facing the very real possibility of signing up and paying for multiple subscription services that, when they try to buy an album or look up a band they like, oftentimes will return search results with the same response: not found.

"The economics of the music industry remain unprepared to provide unlimited access to anything," Webnoize analyst Ric Dube wrote in an e-mail. "Marketing campaigns will emphasize artists, not labels, but the prospects of paying for a service that provides access to just 60 percent of music is monumentally unattractive to consumers."

#63    @ Sarge2004 I'll bet your eyes are brown, am I right? Its been proven that people do not like DRM infested music. It will fail miserably.

#64    another victim of file sharing

http://www.villacabrera.com/?look=MLS

#65    This is more posts than Ive ever seen. Unfortunately, about 75% of the messagse are just Sarge responding to his own stuff.

#66    @Josef

Im inclined to ban him.....his argument is so stupid, it lacks all credibility. He's using "Ric Dube"and Swissbeatz(?) as examples of his odd argument.

You're not going to convince anybody here Sarge so give it a rest won't you?

#67    @sarge2004

Sarge, this is the General. Get down and give me twenty pushups on the double. Seriously for an overweight balding computer programmer you have a lot to learn still (not ironically) about real life if you think that our economic troubles would be solved by stopping the pirating of media. Hey by the way, theres this thing going on that is funneling hundred of BILLIONS of taxpayer dollers out of the country annually called the Iraq war.

The only way to save the entertainment industry (which isnt worth saving if you ask me) is for media to be produced to the public for free and paid for by advertising (like air television).

Hang on a second, let me pull out my crystal ball................

Dont worry your "sit at a desk and burn no calories" aka "work/job" will be safe in the future as tech corporations will be unable to sell their software to the general public (we will have all switched to linux) and will begin to be absorbed as tech wings (developing in house software), into companies that provide tangible products.

Unfortunately the republicans with the help of their secret allies, the democrats, will have deregulated, and bankrupted our government which will be operated "in trust/outsourced" to the coporate aristocracy (who will continue to nominate their own for elections as they do now). Money will get more tight (after all, greed has no cure) for most but not for those of who sell their soul (yes, that would be you, the "company man"). Eventually you will not be able to tell the diffrence between our own third world country and those we visit on vacation (think south america or southeast asia but without the tropical weather). Think it wont happen? just ponder the 1950s for a minute, remember, back then only the husband had to work in order to pay the bills.

So tell your friend with the gun in his mouth, because he cannot find a tech job, to hold on because his options are not 1) ditch digger or 2) death, anymore (seriously you tech geeks need to suck it up and place your identity in something other than a job, psst, a "job" is what you have to do, followed by fun at quitten time).

Oh, and get a life d*&^%#bag, nobody should be commenting 84 times in one opinion thread. sheesh.

#68    I dont see any reason to ban him. I dont even believe anything hes saying is true. If he has all this money, hes not spending time on Zeropaid dot com posting crap all day long. Only students and the unemployed have that kind of time on their hands.

#69    All Sarge uses is fear and intimidation, much like the MPAA & the RIAA against us, the very people who made their fortunes. They have criminalized their best customers in a frenzy of greed & wide spread corruption. Suing grandmothers, buying politicians. Their goal is to make file sharing worse than rape and murder. These people are totally lost in a frenzy of greed and hate and do not understand what file sharing is. What they cannot understand is that their method of distribution & profit is simply not realistic. The whole business model needs to be overhauled big time. Instead these dinosaurs will waste their time & money with even more copyrights, corrupt politicians passing draconian laws & even more fear & intimidation & violence & probably even murder hoping to bring back the good ole days when they can charge as much as they want for a music CD. Sarge2004, suck my balls!

#70    Holy blue bloody 'ell you are chatty.

Ok you know what's funny, I already said I'm not going to shed crocodile tears for the labels, as far as I'm concerned they're outdated and have yet to realize it.

Now as for the 'demos' spiel of mine that you oh so gracefully glazed over, what's wrong with it, hmm? what's wrong with being an educated consumer rather than a pig at the slop tray that your buddies have in the past filled with plastic wrapped crap.

As for music, I'm an effing Canuck, I pay levies on EVERY recordable media I purchase, for legitimate purposes or not, so you can't point your nasty little finger at me for doing EXACTLY what I am allowed to do while you collect the bloody profits from the levies, not to mention the fact that I have... eccentric tastes in music that near to nothing in North America has produced since the late 90's.

Here's a good example, Sins of a Solar Empire, do you know how long it took me to go from playtest to purchase? Less than a week of deliberation, in fact while I was playing it I was saying I had to pick it up, However I still haven't unwrapped my purchase because it'd be a waste of time to re-install the software, that's right, I'm running the copy I had already while leaving the original SEALED.

Here's a counter-example, I played the new Sam & Max game released by the adventure company, I loved it, then saw another title by the same release company and figured 'Why not' and was horribly burned, if anyone has an inkling to buy Dead Reefs, my advise is to steer clear and save your money.

There are VERY FEW games I buy on release name alone, ATLUS comes to mind, aside from that there really isn't any other publisher of games that has had a constant high-quality release rate from my experience, unfortunately I cannot afford/find a lot of ATLUS games here in the 'peg but when I see them and I have some spare cash and I don't already own it I pick it up (giving Persona 3 a hard stare for a while actually.)

Anyways, my point is you're woeing over the fact that you don't have the pigs at the trough anymore because they've wizened up a bit, so instead of churning out sub-standard software/movies/music/etc. try sinking some money into making decent product and a fair price and you'll find that people are willing to pay for it.

#71    Mord I wish there were more like you at least you are willing to pay and have paid, but 99% want free

and to everyone else I am not fat and bald and again I am not a programmer

I am on here because I am on vacation and I feel the need to protest privately.

other than that you will not hear from me in a few days because you are right I do not have the time to comment on here as I am way to busy running what is left of my empire in the real world.

#72    @Sarge

Again, some of us DO PAY for STUFF WE LIKE.

#73    Sarge most file sharers still buy products they feel warrant a purchase, they just download stuff they wouldn't have ever bought had it cost them anything. Personally I own a legitimate copy of Vista, about 53 legitimate copies of video games. Most of the office apps I use are free or open source so those aren't stolen either. You want a list of those, open office, paint.net, gimp, 7-zip, avast, etc... To be honest I used to download allot more then I do now, although you make me want to download more in the hopes I download your software. When I was younger I didn't have the money to buy the games I wanted so I downloaded them, or rented and burnt them. Now I do have the money to buy them so I buy the ones I think warrant the purchase, and those that don't I might download. The last game I downloaded rather than bought was oblivion, and I'm glad because its a glitchy ass game that should of never been released. So anyway, your still an idiot sarge and don't understand your industry.

#74    again a the very few buy and the multitudes by the hundreds of millions get it for free

#75    That's where you are wrong sarge, if you bothered to read any independently run studies, you would know that file sharing has no significant effect on sales. In fact heavy file sharers are also the biggest consumer of intellectual property. Here is a study done by a London company for the Canadian government. http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/en/h_ip01456e.html they found no negative or positive impact by file sharing on music. They did however find that people who download allot of music generally bought allot of music too. Another study done by Harvard, similar results http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_March2004.pdf there are some more. The only ones that support the fact that their is a direct correlation are those that were funded by the music industry and few scholars agreed with the findings. So I have to say sarge, your views aren't well supported by the data.

#76    yea well they are full of it, the harmful effects of file sharing are not prevalent for at least 5 years

tell them to do a new study and they will now admit that they were wrong, harmful file sharing started in 2003 ? they need to do a new study and publish that report for 2008

#77    Canadian study was done in 2006, they only represent music, its hard to find ones on software and film piracy. Most experts we're in agreement that movie, game and software piracy wasn't all that rampant, its starting up a little more now however. My belief is that the data should be similar for other media, but that could be wrong. If I have some free time I will do a bit more research on the effects. Anyway they aren't full of shit, theirs been numerous different studies that have given the same results. You can deny it to yourself all you want, the data is the data. Many people are trying to remove civil liberties without any just cause, thats the facts. Until there is a reason to lock down copyright we shouldn't, strong copyright stifles innovation and competition and that has long been known to economists. That doesn't mean we should have no copyright and patent laws, but they should be as sparse as possible.

#78    I think filesharing is leading us into a Star Trek-like library system. I mean just think, you can call up whatever song, book, movie, etc. whenever. This is the future folks and is what I think a majority of people want. I hate to say it, usually the majority wins, even when the majority doesn't hold the most $$$. Google is on the right track with the book project. Also, with the Open Source trend, it's going to be even easier to obtain things free and legal, which the commercial industry will never be able to defeat.

Yes, the economy sucks, but filesharing is not the cause. The economy is a result of banks giving out mortgages to people who couldn't afford it, gas prices, 9/11, War in Iraq, the current Administration. There might be a minimal effect on the economy, but not as widespread as RIAA, MPAA, or the other biggies want us to believe. Filesharing has been around longer than people realize, granted not as widespread. I mean I consider people swapping/copying cassette tapes a form of it.

I think RIAA and their people are just comfortable in their ways, and like many humans, don't like change. Well, change is a part of life. They might be able to slow it down, but will never completely eliminate it. They feed this doom and gloom about the economy as propaganda to convince us that it's the direct cause of the economy when it's not.

BTW, just think about when our generation (which the majority think filesharing is good) start getting into government positions. I think there will be a significant change when we get there.

#79    I understand but a 70-90% drop in revenue brings to question the credibility of these studies

I would not be surprised if those that did the studies are file sharer advocates themselves

#80    If you think so sarge, dissect their study and find the fault. The methodology used is documented, the reasoning behind their thought process is listed and the formulas used to test their hypothesis is shown. If you or anyone else wants to challenge its validity they are free to do so.

#81    I would not know where to start and I do not have the time, like I said before time will tell

#82    But you have the time to post 40-60 odd messages on a file sharing news site?

#83    As an artist, it would be absurd at this point to not support file-sharing. If file-sharing never existed, I wouldn't be creating what the RIAA calls "Intellectual Property" Some artists like myself can't thank file-sharing enough for making careers for creativity. Guess I am a "victim" of file-sharing - I don't know how I'll survive with all this newfound fame. Guess I'll just have to keep driving forward in the 21st century. ;)

#84    Hey; Drew, I've been meaning to ask you, what band/musician name do you go by when not on ZP?

#85    Drew you are not that good and I am saying this in the nicest way possible

You clearly have not paid your dues

You are putting yourself out there way to early

This is a very serious business, and guys like you are cheapening it

sure maybe you are a star on here but in the real world what have you done ?

any placement on TV Film ? major placements that pay at least 2k for a sync fee,

placements on student films or public access tv do not count.

any shows where you alone packed out the clubs ?

are you a pro member with BMI, ASCAP ?

are you collecting royalties from your work ?

if not you are among a million artists that think they are stars but they cannot sell their songs to the masses and they are hitting us up for deals every day of the weeks.

We do not take submissions unless it is by an attorney, manager, agent or someone we have made money with and who we respect we only want to hear polished professional record quality material that we can put on the radio tomorrow, your mixes alone really need work.

Your music has to be on the level, same playing field as tiesto, dj sasha, digweed, BT, paul oakenfold

maybe you should look them up and they may inspire you to get better

on a scale of 1-10 you are a 2 so you have a long long way to go

it is not your fault

myspace and other sites are giving you a chance to come out before you are ready, if you have sold 150,000 downloads of your records at $7 a pop that is a major feat for any artist without a budget or a deal but of course giving away music does not count

if you were that good you would be on MTV VH1 by no

and to the others I am on vacation / retired so I have a lot of free time on my hands, and you all have a point, I talked to my colleagues about getting an independent study done and we are thinking about doing it although it will cost millions it may be worth it but here is the question

first off

We know what the outcome will be so again

if the study proves that file sharing is harmful to sales in music and software do you think people will stop doing it ?

If we do a mass marketing ad campaign across the globe that will no doubt cost us tens of millions do you think people

will stop doing it ?

If we prove without a shadow of a doubt that file sharing is killing the world economy do you really believe that 98% of those file sharing will stop ?

honestly ?

and if file sharing does go on as usual why should we spend close to a hundred million to start, for TV, myspace and youtube airtime to prove a point if it will not really make a difference ?

kid rock, dr dre, metallica, linkin park and many others have already tried to protest over the last few years and it fell on deaf ears

why would our way be any different ?

#86    Drew just to get you started

http://www.djtiesto.com

#87    that is who file sharers are stealing from

tiesto

not drew wilson

#88    SARGE2004, you are assuming that if people couldnt download these things for free they would go out and buy them for these high prices you and your friends charge at the store. well thats not the case, i for one wouldnt waste my money on over priced cd's that have maybe 1 or 2 goods songs, or take a chance and pay $50 for a game that sucks. when i spend money i buy new firearms, something that will always be valuable and useful unlike bad music and bad games. so cry me a river about you rich people running out of money, boo hoo.

#89    @ Sarge2004 Again dude, sharing is not stealing! Despite your obviously limited scope of vision file 'sharing' is not responsible for the financial woes suffered in the World economy. It seems that the record industry has an overinflated idea of what their product is actually worth. Once again (wearily like telling a child something over & over) if you guys offered a product at a fair price & quality people would eat it up like gourmet f*cking food!

#90    Haha. "When I want to buy something useful, I buy firearms". Fucking crazy. Some reneck stockpiling munitions in his shed arguing with some other redneck who may or may not also be a survivalist, black UN helicopter-fearing, inbred lunatic. Hillarious.

#91    Anyway, I always find these "file sharing isnt hurting anyone" arguments bizarre. Of course its hurting sales. The day I got the internet is the day I stopped buying games, porn, movies, and music. And Im in the vast majority here.

I hope that file sharing is destroying the industry and the system at large. Then we can borrow some guns from Vampyre Blade's mountain retreat, march on Washington, and create a society based on need rather than profit.

#92    @ Sarge2004 LOOk at comment 88, why not consider releasing singles again? A BIG thing people HATE is having to buy a whole album for one or two songs they really want: bring singles back, or let people pick N choose what they like. You gotta be flexible. Treating your customers as criminals is not going to work period. The world hates the record industry for this. Stop suing people for downloading! It makes you look bad. It WILL NEVER be like the 'good ole days' where you can charge as much as you want for a CD again. The business model needs a complete overhaul. Do these things & you will prosper. Fair product, fair price, & NO DRM. Be Ipod friendly, people will respond. Again, criminilizing your customers is a BAD idea! L i s t e n to what i am saying!

#93    Josefstalin, first off i am not a redneck as much as you would like to believe so, collecting firearms is a hobbie many people do. second, i wouldnt loan them out too anyone, third i dont have a mountain retreat. you need to open your mind, your narrow view of firearm owners is very liberal democrat. you must be an obama man.

#94    Starwhite, very well thought out point.

#95    Hey Sarge, you claim to be recording artist with 30 years under your belt. You must be famous, so why not have the courage to tell us who you are? You see, I'm thinking your views, particularly the nasty ones that are aimed at filesharers "killing" families would make for a very interesting Rolling Stone article. It's certainly better than taking a soapbox stance behind an online handle on a random website. Clearly you have a strong opinion on this, considering you only own one Rolls-Royce instead of twelve. I'd like to see you address a real music community with your views and comments (love the one about taking a gun and killing someone downloading a song). Or are you under the impression that long standing music enthusiasts exclusively purchase CD's? What are you thoughts on music services such as Zune? I pay only $15 per month and literally download hundreds of mainstream albums. Is Microsoft harming the industry as well?

#96    sarge i am from an underdeveloped country will they catch me too ??? boohoo... sarge suck on my salty balls. hehe...

#97    Revealing my name would open me up to frivolous lawsuits from my posts alone

Rolling Stone and other magazines have done many articles on file sharing to no avail.

For what it is worth, singles are out all over the place, they have been for years,

I also understand where everyone is coming from so in conclusion

if you want artists like drew wilson or companies like http://www.nexon.net to provide you with crappy entertainment continue on with file sharing

if you want games like metal gear solid 4 or music artists like tiesto, dj sasha you and others will stop

it is that simple

I would say within in another 3 years you will see a blackhole in fine entertainment thanks to file sharing

while amateurs are trying to give away for free their average games and music

so it is up to you

#98    Sarge, you are assuming there is only one business model for music - you shouldn't delude yourself into thinking this. I wouldn't like being on MTV for the simple fact that everything on MTV I've seen is absolute garbage. You don't have to be in an ad or be in an official music album for a major motion picture to be famous. File-sharing has given me the unique opportunity to push the envelope above and beyond what local resources can even dream of doing.

Also, you are the very first person out of thousands who have commented on my music to speak down on it. Combined with your other condenscending comments, I'm quite convinced it is out of spite and not out of professional or honest personal opinion.

As for comparing me to Tiesto, I've met plenty of people in the trance scene who actually do not like Tiesto. Does that make their opinions of the music he produces any more or less valid? Obviously, you don't thoroughly do your homework anyway or you would know that I also produce music that is not Trance music as well. Before you make the comparison, there are plenty of people who dislike Pendulum as well. It's a matter of opinion - nothing more and nothing less. FYI, I've already had a European organizer ask if I was touring at all - so there are those who think positively on what I'm doing.

Furthermore, can you simply gague whether ZZTop is better than Dragonforce, Metallica (older or newer stuff), Coldplay, Linkin Park, etc.? Not really because ZZTop is technically blues and there are many styles of rock/metal/etc. and it would be like comparing a ferrari to a cement truck. Is Deadmau5 better than Above and Beyond? It's completely different styles. Is Darude's latest album (Label This!) better than M83? How can you compare it? Is Rob D better than DJ Eco because Rob D was featured on The Matrix? Comparison is faulty at best.

To answer your question of whether or not I packed a club, I packed a live show and did to live work. The experience is quite amazing.

You claim that 150,000 (actually, the number is 160,000 at this point now) downloads don't count, but clearly you think that the only thing that counts is what will get monetary gain. This completely flies in the face the fact that musicians want to be heard and the more people who are hearing your music, the more you are known. The more you are known, the more likely they are to thank you later. I'm happy to create music for free and I will eventually give people the option to pay me what they feel is fair if they feel like supporting me beyond listening to my music, but again, it's strictly optional. I have always felt that if you are going to treat your fans like criminals, you don't deserve fans at all. If you think this is not a business model, you don't need to look further than FireFox which is the web browser rivaling Microsoft. If you want another example, Microsoft is struggling against Linux in the server industry. Linux OS adoption is on the rise. If you're assumptions of the idea that the only way to move forward in the content industry is to close source everything and do it all for monetary gain is true, the open content industry shouldn't even exist right now. Sorry, but not only is it existing, it's also flourishing against companies who think like you do.

I'm not saying you have to be open minded about it all, I'm saying it's foolish to criticise others for thinking differently about todays world. I have interviewed a record company that started up and I asked the owner why, in the face of supposed slides in record sales in the record industry, is she starting a record company, she looked right back at me and told me that if there is any fall in the record sales, it's for the major record labels. Meanwhile, the small and indipendent music producers have a new lease on life because of things like the internet allowing people to promote themselves without the need to sell out to a major record label just to hope to get into the spotlight.

Again, go ahead and say people who think differently are wrong, but I think you'll find, as you no doubt seen on here, that there will be plenty who will disagree with that opinion and have the ability to back that up with evidence.

@Mord Sith - I produce under the name 'Frozen IceCube'. You can Google Frozen IceCube eMule and it should be the first result. :) I'm in the process of producing a couple of songs right now actually and am hoping to get some new content out there by the end of the month (fingers crossed!)

#99    I would say within another three years, survivors of this industry holocaust you describe will realize that the traditional CD is obsolete, and offer digital music to consumers at a fair price. You made a comment about CD prices being raised back to the standard $18 price tag once filesharers get what's coming to them. Have you considered the possibility that the high cost of these discs may have played a factor into the demise of your revenue?

You didn't answer my question regarding very appealing approaches to digital distribution such as Zune Pass. Personally, I don't upload or download music illegally. $15 per month for DRM protected content is fair in my opinion. And you take as much music as you want. I don't like burning or storing music CDs. Listening through my PC or Zune player works for me. Again, my own preference.

BTW, you can stop coming off like some "deepthroat" character warning us of our impending doom. If you're as ingrained within the industry as you claim, you shouldn't have a problem revealing yourself. This boils down to two things: either you're in fear of backlash from those that have placed you upon your throne in the first place. Or you're a fraud.

#100    Actually I don't subscribe to Tiesto, Dj sasha and whatever else that is so it doesn't hurt me too much, the joys and pains of being a metal head means that I wind up listening to songs either 20 years old or in other languages / accents aside from standard fare North American dialects.

As for MGS4, I've never been an MGS fan, I blitzkrieg through the game rather than stealth, my friends make fun of me for that one when they saw me playing all guts & glory rather than stealthily...

Everyone's an amateur at some point or another, however to have the stones to simply out and out bash some of those indy games or music is a little bit foolhardy to say the least.

If you're talking calibur of game quality, there aren't going to be any more MGS games after 4, 4 put the game series to bed quite literally, however good games always have a way of rising to the top, regardless of the hype that surrounds the craptacular (Oblivion) and odds are that the good games and good music get the good rewards.

Once again, despite file sharing being the antagonist of the movie industry they've been raking in record profits over the past 7 years, I still go to see movies in the theater every so often, I actually went in to see the new Hellboy movie because I loved the first one, but I also don't have cable in my house, because most North American Television does not interest me, the only thing is BSG and I head over to a friends to watch it.

You're going to find that a lot of young fellows with little to no money are going to be filesharing, it's an inevitable truth, however with any collection, one gets an affinity for the media, mine is (now if anyone laughs I'm gonna smack 'em!) anime, older anime more than the newer stuff because that was when they had a hell of a lot of good stories, I'll drop a good chunk of change on boxed sets and whatnot, I also spend decent change on collectors editions of games that I really enjoy.

I can't say with all honesty that I own every single title that I have as a fansub, despite the fact that I'd like to, I just can't afford it at 25-35 bucks a dvd considering the myriad of shows that have been licensed in North America, but I do try to pick 'em up, same with games, when I have the spare change that's not going towards the convention I drop over a grand into and not going to the 500 bucks per paycheck bills that I have.

I know that may sound like chump change to you, but not everyone can afford a pinto, let alone a rolls royce, so before you wag your finger at us, think for a second, if we had anywhere near the kind of money you do, do you think we'd even bother with filesharing?

I know there's a few guys who take the 'fighting the man' routine or are just plain cheap, but a lot of the people out there just can't afford it due to the cost of the music or the game or whatnot, so they'll do the work to bypass any encryption and get it for 'free', the reason why that's in quotes is because when you get something off the net, it's never as simple to install as a legit copy, there's all sorts of tricks you have to do in order to get something to work or to break the DRM, so instead of paying for it, they do the work to break the encryptions, someone has to break the code and once that's done it's all over the place.

I'm not justifying the action, but at the same time, it's a world of haves and have-nots, and right now the have-nots have found a way to get a slice of what the haves have, some aren't as noble about it as I am, but some are, I can't speak for others, but when I can buy some software or movie, I do, if it's worth it to add to my collection that is, or if it's cheap enough, I'll buy 20 dollar games from the bargain bin if they look interesting.

Anyways long rant short, there's no point in waving your finger at many of us, all you're coming off as is either pompous or an RIAA/MPAA supporter, those it does have an effect on to some degree, are stuck by circumstance into their situations, even if they don't like it because they can't make ends meet any other way and still be able to enjoy a flick every so often.

#101    OMG Sarge, still on your odd anti file-sharing holocaust rant? R u really on vacation or has evil P2P left you unemployed along with millions of artists, actors, and actresses? /sarcasm

"if you want artists like drew wilson or companies like http://www.nexon.net to provide you with crappy entertainment continue on with file sharing?"

Artists make most of their money from touring anyways....they only get $1 from a $20 CD

"Artist Praises File-Sharing for Increasing Ability to Tour"

Slightly Stoopid frontman Miles Doughty calls P2P a means of spreading music to the "masses [who] may not have heard of your music in the first place."

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9586/Artist+Praises+File-Sharing+for+Increasing+Ability+to+Tour/

#102    Drew

you will not take rejection and try to improve on yourself

if your demo comes into my office into the garbage basket it will go

and you will get a letter from us saying "although we really like your music and think you are talented, you are not the right fit for us at this time"

I hope you have or can get a college degree or go into the military

otherwise your options are pumping gas, working at walmart, mc donalds and from what I have heard it is not a fun livelyhood

you are a kid and kid's think they are invincible, I was no different at your age

there is no way I am going to waste time telling you what is wrong with your music

all I can say is that if you are not at the level of tiesto or dj sasha you need to sit back and think on what you can do to improve your craft

giving away music it is very easy to do, hell I know jerkoff broke artists that have given away 20 million free downloads off of the net

but they have to still pay to play at shows where only 50 show up and they have yet to sell 1000 cd's

not very impressive

and I really do not care that you think you are right and I am wrong

I doubt you even have a 150k car that you bought on your own, I have 4

and Miles who ?????

I wonder how long he will last.

I doubt if we will hear much of him next year.

another example of premature

#103    and soulxtc

why do you call yourself soulxtc

are you a rapper ? are you a soul brother ?

and again p2p p4p has put the record label out of business and that also put most artists out of business

#104    @Sarge

"Drew you will not take rejection and try to improve on yourself" ....hmm sounds curiously like you. The world has rejected you and your method of content distribution and you refuse to improve yourself and your own method. Who the hell has a CD player anymore?

And one of the biggest reasons for album sales declining is the fact that iTunes - the country's largest music retailer - specializes in selling DIGITAL SINGLES! People buy their favorite track from an album and forego shelling out for the rest if they think its crap. SO unless you make people buy entire albums (not likely) on iTunes you will continue to see a decline as people stop buying entire physical CDs and buy the biggest hit.

And I hate to tell you but Slightly Stoopid (Miles is the lead singer) has toured nationally with Dave Matthews Band, sold several MILLION albums and are well respected in the dubstyle/reggae community

"The band has taken its live show to as far-away shores as Australia, Japan, Guam, Amsterdam, Portugal and Denmark, the U.K., Germany, Holland and the Dominican Republic, and supported the likes of the Dave Matthews Band, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and the Marley Brothers, Sublime, The Roots, G. Love, Toots and the Maytals and Pennywise." - http://www.slightlystoopid.com

They play to sold out shows wherever they go, and have been playing and touring since 2002.....

"but they have to still pay to play at shows where only 50 show up and they have yet to sell 1000 cd's"....???? Even shitty bands get more than 50 to show up, hell you can get at least 25 friends every time.

Rapper? Hardly.

Are you a "sarge?" Hardly.

Are you an idiotic? Certainly.

Face it, file-sharing is here to stay whether you like it or not. So long as users can connect one another u cant stop it. I could send a .RAR file of any album right now to a dozen people and there's no way an ISP or anybody else can stop that unless they plan on downloading and inspecting everything people transmit to one another - NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

There's a million ways to share files and more are being devised every day.

BTW it just proves my point that you aren't really hurting at all. Maybe if you weren't so busy driving your old ass around town and actually sat down to figure out how to adjust t the new paradigm that is digital content you might just figure out a way to get your 5th mid-life crisis trophy.

So quit your crying, do everybody a favor and shove all 4 of those 150,000 car up your ass. Maybe then you'll have the epiphany u so desperately need.

#105    ISP's attempts to make their networks better capable of handling P2P is destroying the record labels? Considering that there are allot of legal files being transferred via P2P I can't see ISP's trying to make their networks more compatible with P2P any business of the record labels. Especially when P2P growth continues as more and more companies use it to subsidize distribution costs. Maybe I'm missing you're interpretation of P4P

#106    @MR

Exactly.....content distributors love P2P because it reduces their server load.

Plus P2P is driving the demand for faster and more costlier internet connections. Who the hell needs a 1.8 MB/s DL and 371 kB/s UL connection speed like I have? Web browsing? Please. I'd drop down about three tiers in a NY minute and they'd lose about $40 bucks per subscriber (imagine the losses considering they say more than 50% of Internet traffic is P2P related) if they somehow managed to magically make BitTorrent disappear and I know Im not alone.

#107    Soulxtc you are so full of it

they did not sell millions and millions of cd's if they did they would be all over MTV, VH1

you are a moron a buffoon and a jerkoff

always remember that

I am so sick of your stoopid comments that you no longer exist in my world

#108    It is like talking to pre schoolers on here

unless you own a multi national company that brings in hundreds of millions of dollars, euro's in revenues you will

never have a clue as to what I am conveying

I am done

#109    To reference Wierd Al, I personally fail to see the need to be able to afford a solid gold humvee.

What I'm actually saying is that it's possible that two business models can emerge in the same industry. One where success is defined by how many millions of dollars the record labels make off the backs of artists and one where fans can directly support the artists. The internet and bricks and mortor are two completely different worlds and fans can be located in both. They can migrate from one to the other, but both industries can survive. You actually have to know how to operate a computer in order to get in on the internet side of the music industry and there's plenty of people who don't know how to use a computer (ala John McCain and many older people who don't really understand computers)

You don't have to like my music (never said you did) and there's hundreds of thousands of other people who might think differently about my music if I should decide to go the rout of sending demo CDs to promoters like the slightly older days. These days, you don't even have to be a signed artist to promote yourself throughout the world and I shall exploit this revolution to my full benefit.

Whether I get money in the future or not is up to the fans who have money to spare, but, and I'm sure it's hard for you to understand, I'm not in it for the money either. People downloading my music is just as good as a sale as far as I'm concerned. It's even better, though, seeing other people start getting creative after seeing what I've been able to do and trying out music production for the first time themselves (which also has happened)

I'm happy be able to put my money where my mouth is and do something about the opportunity we have today through uncensored p2p in a constructive way instead of just saying that the big industry is headed in the wrong direction.

Again, success is in the eye of the beholder - you define successs by how many cars is sitting in your garage. I define success as being recognized for my productivity beyong the capitalistic need to accumulate wealth. I'd rather be making a difference in society then being borderline suicidal in a mansion.

#110    I'd like to also note that people like you (sarge) are welcome here, but namecalling and being egotistical isn't necessarily called for. I like debating these things from time to time, it's just a shame that your side of the debates is being poorly represented on your side this time around since it's clear that you can't debate the issues in a calm manner (I've seen people who share your opinions do far better at being calm about it at the same time)

I'd suggest giving yourself a cooling off period (a day is frequently sufficient) and when you have collected your thoughts, coming back since I've seen these deba