[Lt.Cannonfodder]

Too long? You can get a good quality movie under five hours with a decent connection. And the broadband is constantly spreading, meaning the download times are going down all the time.

[karajorma]

Using Kazaa?

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

Never touched kazaa and bittorrent is most likely the most easy to use p2p programs. Won't take long for it to spread.

[ionia23]

Yup, even using kazaa you can pop the occasional strong connection.  My utilization of Kazaa is for stuff that isn't available, like Cure concerts from the 'pornography' tour of 1982, or stuff from Shakespear's Sister live,  Ain't that I'm being cheap, I just can't find stuff like that anywhere else.

[NGTM-1R]

Excuse me while I laugh maniacally at the fools. Perhaps they need to be told that doing the same thing again and expecting different results is a form of insanity...

I personally don't download anything they'd even be interested in. Hell, the music I've downloaded I can't even get in the US. I've even tried to import it. I got ripped off twice, and that was the end of that.

[Flipside]

Meh, any music I download is usually stuff I've already owned before. You'd expect something better for £9.99 than a piece of ****e cassete that stretches and starts warbling after under 6 months play

So, as far as I've concerned, I've already paid for the music, it's not my problem if records companies couldn't be arsed to spend out for decent quality media.

[Tiara]

I'm sorry, but charging friggin 40 bucks for a f*cking CD is just too much. Untill they magically drop to a reasonably affordable price, I won't be buying a lot of them.

[ionia23]

Where on earth are you being charged 40 bucks for a CD?  And what currency?

[NGTM-1R]

The United States of America. US Dollars.

This is news to you? $32 or so is about average for a recent release. Cheapest I've ever seen outside of a bargin bin is $20.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Tiara

These people are just a bunch of dumbf*cks

yeah i don't know if you're aware, but it's not like all the smart people are the outsiders and all the stupid people work for the CIA, FBI, RIAA, etc. etc.  it's actually quite the other way around.  remember all those hardcore viruses that wiped out millions of computers over the last few years?  well guess where the writers of the viruses now work... for one of the above mentioned government agencies.  they have the willpower and they have the funds to hire anyone they need.  i remember one of my professors telling me that when he was in university, some kid hacked the entire university network, took it down completely.  he spent a year in jail, and when he got out Microsoft hired him and he now makes $250k+ per year.  

besides, that message you received was probably some automatically generated type.  if they wanted to find you, i'm pretty sure they can.  they have so many resources available to them it's not even funny.  

i don't personally agree with what they do myself, but that's another story.  and on that note, the last CD i bought was in mid 1999

[Tiara]

Heh, then why did I get a email that was quite personal with the *exact* same proxy as my IP through e-mail a day later?

Sure, in time they should be able to figure that stuff out. But when someone's IP has the word VIRUSWALL in it, even semi-computer literate people should recognize that it isn't a DHCP assigned IP.

Besides, I replied telling them to f*ck off cuz they had no authority whatsoever where I live. Ever since, they never bothered me again. Yet, I didn't stop downloading stuff :p

[Stealth]

i'm just saying, never think that you're too "l33t" for a government agency to catch you.  it scares me how much those guys have on their side, as far as personnel, technology, authority, etc.  they can catch you...

[Tiara]

Currently they can't seeing as their are no Dutch laws that allow foreign organizations to interfere with my personal life.

It's something we like to call 'our privacy'. A concept lost on some organizations/people, etc.

Unless you are doing something like ordering an assasination over the net and they have DIRECT evidence linking you to the act of crime itself, only then they can act. Besides, having someone's IP will not hold up in a Dutch court anyway. It's not considered to be direct evidence seeing as IP addresses can be faked, rerouted through another one, masked, etc etc etc.

[Stealth]

oh i'm not saying you did something and you're going to get caught for it, because even if you did, it's out of their jurisdiction, i'm just saying... they can find you if they want.  because, well, see the reasons in my above post

[Tiara]

Ow, I'm sure they can. But you know what I can do?

Post this on a board;





(Not my stuff btw, but my collection is about the same.)

[Cabbie]

At least the CD and DVD manufacturers are getting good business

[Flipside]

Funny thing is, a lot of those are owned by.....

Yep, the Recording companies!

[Tiara]

Who said I bought them at the retail price?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by ngtm1r
The United States of America. US Dollars.

This is news to you? $32 or so is about average for a recent release. Cheapest I've ever seen outside of a bargin bin is $20.

Really?  **** sake, no wonder they're losing sales to P2P (actually, they're not losing sales, they're going up IIRC, but since when did actual facts matter......)

UK price is £14 for new releases in the big chains (Virgin, HMV, etc), but there are quite a few smaller chains (like Fopp) which do the same releases in the £8-10 bracket.

(NB: £14 = approx US$21, 10=15, 8=12, IIRC the exhange rate is roughly 1.5, prob  a bit more)

[Tiara]

Actually, at the current exchange rate, 14 pounds = 25.15 USD. The Exch. Rate is ~1.796:1.