mp3 downloading & iPods.

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>dcfca: For programs like mytunes, the files you have access to are those on your subnet, not just your dorm.</p>

<p>As for not being caught with Road Runner: that's not how it works. Record companies don't monitor individual networks. All they do is look at, in the case of BitTorrent, the trackers and the seed files and see who's connected. They log these IPs (all of which can be from any ISP imaginable) and then contact the networks to subpoena your information. The networks/college are then required to turn over your information. There is no safety with a large ISP.</p>

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<p>Yes, I know about the subnet but my point was that your files are dependent on what everyone else is sharing. Here's an example. Let's say there's a new episode of family guy that you wish to download. SOMEONE on the subnet is going to have to use a torrent, mIRC, newsgroup, etc to get that file and then put it in their shared folder for the subnet. Then everyone will have access to it. So basically there's a delay in getting the file you want, because it has to be on your subnet initially.</p>

<p>As for the ISP thing, you're wrong.</p>

<p>The thing is, when you use a big ISP such as Road Runner, the record companies, movie companies, etc have to deal with a much larger company than in the case of your college internet ISP, usually what happens is that the RIAA or whichever agency ends up being halted by the amount of red tape that's involved with these much larger companies and their requests are often swept under the rug. </p>

<p>That's why there's more safety. I'd say most of the people who have received 'cease and desists' are people using these college networks, not bigger networks like Road Runner.</p>

23

<p>Tangent topic: does anybody know how to fix a lack of access to the music store problem? I couldn't login or get updates, so I uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes. Now I can't even get to the music store. It has worked great for the past year and absolutely nothing was changed on my pc. Any ideas to help a technologically challanged person out?</p>

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<p>dcfca: I am not sure where you're getting your information, but it is not any harder for the RIAA to target large ISPs than it is to target colleges. The RIAA is sending subpoenas to ISPs who can take a stand (and some do), but who largely don't care to as it doesn't affect them. These aren't the most recent numbers (a few months old), but unless college lawsuits have skyrocketed, then this should give a fairly accurate picture:</p>

<p>As of 08/16/05, from Single</a> Mother Of Five Takes On RIAA In Downloading Case:</p>

<p>
[quote]
The RIAA has filed federal lawsuits against more than 13,000 Internet users since September 2003, with nearly 3,000 of those accused settling for an average of $4,000-$5,000.

[/quote]
About two months later from Music</a> Industry Continues Campaign Against Campus Internet Theft:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Today’s litigation marks the fourth time the music industry has taken action to combat theft on Internet2’s specialized, high-speed university computer network, for a total of 635 lawsuits at 39 campuses this year.

[/quote]
When they want to target colleges, they do. But they are largely targeting the vast majority of song pirates that use any number of ISPs. They have been shown (as evidenced by the 13,000—more recent numbers say 17,000—lawsuits) in obtaining the names and addresses needed to initiate their lawsuits.</p>

<p>In the end, when you expose yourself to the outside world, using Limewire, BitTorrent, or even IRC, you risk being caught, with no more of a safety net with any of the larger ISPs. If you want, at the least, better security, then you'll have to settle for Direct Connect, MyTunes, or any of the other internal networks.</p>

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<p>In theory yes, it's not harder for them to obtain information from a large ISP. But generally, it's mostly college students who get hit with the cease and desists, not the people in those big ISPs. Every single person I know that's received a cease and desist for downloading (note I'm saying CEASE AND DESIST -- not lawsuit. I'm quite sure that the number of CEASE AND DESISTS greatly outweighs the number of lawsuits) have been caught in college. These are all people who have been downloading for years upon years and finally when they hit college they're hit. </p>

<p>As for IRC being insecure, I don't know how accurate of a statement that really is. Again, in theory mIRC isn't very secure but the reason it has merit is the fact that not many people use it, so it isn't actively targeted like Limewire or BitTorrent. I don't recall many lawsuits involving people downloading things through mIRC, however there are lawsuits on the release groups who populate mIRC.</p>

<p>Obviously yes, it's better to use Direct Connect, myTunes, whatever. You'll be downloading at lightning fast speeds since its just moving files around on your school's network. But, if you wanted something that you -COULD NOT- find on the network then it'd be a good option to use mIRC or something BitTorrent software that has PeerGuardian, SafePeer, etc running and making sure you don't seed the file when you're done DLing.</p>

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<p>If other people in the dorm have the files, why not just transfer them via CD, DVD, crossover cable, ad-hoc wireless, etc.?</p>

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<p>macbookpro, that's what DirectConnect and MyTunes are for. You just transfer them over the network so all the speeds are really fast. That way you don't waste time and money burning dvds all the time.</p>

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<p>I know that, but they are stil using infrastructure that you do not own, which is why I suggested what I said, where you don't use a school's infrastructure at all.</p>