Downloading music on Internet is fool’s game — and illegal

Democrat & Chronicle: Nick Francesco

Downloading music on Internet is fool’s game — and illegal

That is the headline of this Rochester Democrat & Chronicle piece. You would think that a newspaper would employ people that understand at least the broader meanings of the English language. There are plenty of ways to download music on the internet that are completely legal, and not a fool’s game. Using P2P programs like the ones mentioned in the piece, do fit the description, but this writer makes no attempt to differentiate between grabbing a song off Kaazaa and buying a download from iTunes, Yahoo Music, or an artist’s site.

With journalists like this informing the population, our chances of empowering artists through technology are doomed. When I launched my mp3 store, I announced it on a forum that I frequent. One of the other users commented something to the effect of “that’s cool, but downloading is wrong, and I would never do that to you.” I tried to explain that people paid for the downloads and I got the money, so that was a good thing. He eventually got it, but geez…