NationStates Jolt Archive

In this day and age of the internet and mass communication, we have created great achievements. The International Space Station, the expansion of the EU, free states in Afghanistan and Iraq(well, not so much in Iraq...but meh), cell-phone web browsers, life saving technologies.

There have also been bad things: Terrorist attacks against the hearts of many nations(Russia, Spain, and the U.S. for a few), Wars against invisible enemies, the launch of virus' on scales unimaginable, civil wars that cause the death of millions, the re-rise of cultural intolerence, and the polarization of many of the worlds great powers. However, there is one invention which no one knows where to put:

Peer-to-peer(P2P) Filing Sharing

Yes, that's right. We have all heard of KaZaa, and their lesser known(to the mainstream public, that is) counterparts such as LimeWire, eMule, and BitTorrent. We know what they do: They enable the sharing of files from one computer to all over the 'net. Music files, video files, text files, programs, you name it, you can share it. While some of these items are legal, most of them are taken from pirated sources. This raises the question: Do we need to pay for things such as music, videos, and computer programs? Are they not things without any physical parts at all? Are they not just bits of data that are useless outside their digital domain? But are not these digital wonders the driving force of modern civilization? It takes millions to make some of them, shouldn't we, the consumer have to pay for them?

I want to see what you, the nationstates community, have to say about P2P filing sharing.

its awesome. im probably shattering some good ethics and/or morals somewere, but meh - at least i have free movies, games and cds.

It's great stuff. I get free stuff. I like free stuff.

It seems that most of the people who actually post stuff aren't on at this time...

Peer-to-peer, in theory, is great.

When people start using it to transfer viruses and other harmful programs is when it's, eh, not-so-great.

It seems that most of the people who actually post stuff aren't on at this time...
I post far too much stuff!
And I'm on!
I just really don't have much to say about p2p.

I post far too much stuff!
And I'm on!
I just really don't have much to say about p2p.

Ah, ok.

But it really is an interesting topic. Millions of teenage people have become lawless pirates who are undermining the fabrics of the economy of entertainment.

OR you could say millions of forward-thinking young people are leading the fight for more shared resources in this increasingly integrated society.

When entertainers blow millions of dollars getting TV's and Playstation 2's installed in their Hummers...I think it's high time people start downloading.

When entertainers blow millions of dollars getting TV's and Playstation 2's installed in their Hummers...I think it's high time people start downloading.

Yes, but if they don't get paid to create more programs, that cost ALOT more money, then how are they going to make them? Programming isn't free, y'know. If it were, the most advanced game we could make now would probably be Runescape...

CD's are a rip-off

Bands I've never heard off are good.

As a result- it's good ^^

I never said it should all be free, and if I implied that - I apologize.

Those who actually *work* certainly deserve the money. What I'm saying is that if people can afford such ridiculous luxury for a minimal amount of work (millions of dollars for endorsing a product...?) they can afford a few lost dollars to downloading.

I never said it should all be free, and if I implied that - I apologize.

Those who actually *work* certainly deserve the money. What I'm saying is that if people can afford such ridiculous luxury for a minimal amount of work (millions of dollars for endorsing a product...?) they can afford a few lost dollars to downloading.

I concur!

I would never have had a chance to hear a lot of the music I listen to today if I didn't sample it from downloaded MP3's. P2P may save music by making it so that not only radio-friendly bands will enjoy commercial success and get their songs out there. So yes, it's a good thing.

As for programs, freeware is an option so that doesn't really apply...I mean, it's also an option for music, but I see it as a little bit different downloading a game than a work of art (music) for some reason.

p2p is good cuase i can see wether i want to actuly buy a cd if i want cause it sucks when u buy a cd and u hate it


but i rarly buy cds

I believe people should be paid for their creations, however, music in particular is getting rediculous to buy. An album has maybe 1 or 2 good songs on it and it costs you $20 when you could just download those one or two songs for free. also, it gives people access to music that they otherwise wouldn't ever hear (such as a lot of indie stuff) I therefore believe that p2p is somewhat of a mixed blessing

These are all good views.

*wonders if anyone has noticed that I am trying to be as non-partial as possble*

*wonders if anyone has noticed that I am trying to be as non-partial as possble*
*had noticed already*

Oh yes.

And Moses appeared at the top of the mountain, with the Ten Commandments in his hands, and said but one thing:

BUMPZ0RZ!

nice

P2P is going to have interesting implications although all it really does is reduce the complexity of filesharing. If you know what you're doing grabbing quite a bit of stuff off of IRC is rather easy and there is one whole hell of a lot more availible. For instance, finding an FFVII iso on something like Kazaa is nearly impossible while if you can use IRC finding it is an exercise in simplicity. It actually doesn't harm artists as much as the Really Irritating Anal-retentive Assholes would have you believe. What it does do is tend to reward actual talent rather than brand favor.

It actually doesn't harm artists as much as the Really Irritating Anal-retentive Assholes would have you believe. What it does do is tend to reward actual talent rather than brand favor.

Example: Games and Movies are pirated just as much as music, but only the music industry is really bitching about lost profits. (which means that the industry went down from gaining like $1.6 billion to gaining like $1.55 billion, not really a loss) and personally i believe this isn't because of file sharing, but because all the pop artists are just pumping out round, digitally-formatted piles of crap.

EDIT: Not to mention all the other "radio-frienldy" artists nowadays....

there used to be a time that on an album with 12 songs, that you could actually listen to all 12 songs without throwing up partway through

This is TOTALLY off-topic but, since you people seem to be so knowledgable about P2P, you have GOT to have Firefox.

If not...

http://www.spreadfirefox.com/community/images/affiliates/Buttons/110x32/get.gif
(http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/)

This is TOTALLY off-topic but, since you people seem to be so knowledgable about P2P, you have GOT to have Firefox.


woot

bumpz