I think we can all agree with it's spirit. America is best known for our ENTERTAINMENT? What the HELL is that supposed to do for us? Great, we're amusing. We're AMUSING? Is this really what you want to be? Hello, let's get it in GEAR. Napster gets music to people better and with a little microplay mixed in could pay the artists better too. The labels could do this themselves, saving us all a LOT of trouble. But they won't. Or at least not fast.. Right now we've got a system that does it efficiently and well. All we need is the ability to click any song and choose to pay a donation to the author. Of course, most of us would never shell out, because we're convinced rock stars are rich.
Hrm. Maybe they are. But, by showing how much had been donated to any given artist, you could sort of decide how much you wanted to donate. MP3.COM was trying to do this, and the labels ran 'em into the ground. But someone else will try harder, and better. Part of the problem is that common sense says you can't stream the whole format every time and you need to do some kind of DRM - and paranoia says ohmygodwhatifthemeannastyhackersgetit. YOU DIPSHITS! They're out there copying CD quality audio.. along with me and everyone else. What more can you offer? We're NOT going to have orgasms over getting the CD art.. if we wanted the CD art, we'd buy the damn CD. You've already made this PLENTY easy.
Anyway, here's the message.. from its spirit I'm guessing you're free to copy it and name it interesting things. Preferably things that get a lot of hits.
If you are reading this, then you probably got this file off of the Gnutella network which means YOU have what it takes to rip the head off of RIAA! Did you ever wonder how the republicans impeached Bill Clinton? They did it by sticking together. They all marched in lock step in the house. When it got to the Senate, there was disagreement and they didn't get him thrown out of office. There were more republicans than democrats but they didn't stick together in the Senate. Regardless of what you think about Bill Clinton, the same holds true here. There are more of us then there are of them. If everyone shares files on the Gnutella network, there will be nothing they can do! Even if RIAA does get a law passed banning the use of Gnutella how will they enforce it? If 10,000,000 people are doing this everyday, they will have to obtain 10,000,000 search warrants which will require 10,000,000 cops, 10,000,000 trials, 10,000,000 jail cells, 10,000,000 prison grads, 30,000,000 meals per day, and cost BILLONS of dollars. Since 99% of the people using Gnutella are tax payers, where are they going to get the money. Federal, state and local law enforcement has better things to do than to run around and enforce copy writes. However, if there are only 100 of us sharing files, that will make their job a lot easier. Those of you who do not share files will not be in jail, but you won't get free music anymore. You will have to go back to paying $17 for a CD with 1 good song on it ($25 plus $.25 each time you listen if RIAA has their way). If we all share ALL of our files, no one goes to jail and we all get free music! UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. These are just a few suggestions on what to do to hurt RIAA SHARE YOUR FUCKING FILES ON THE NETWORK If you have access to or can afford broadband access (cable, dsl, etc) then for god sakes go get it. Then share as many files as you can and leave your Gnutella client running as much as you can. This will not work if there is not good quality music out on the network. DON'T FEEL GUILTY MOST ARTISTS DON'T MAKE ANY MONEY FORM ALBUM SALES. The record companies force artists into contracts in which they get maybe 5% of the net profit from record sales. Most bands make their money from concert ticket sales and merchandising. If you want to support your favorite artist, go to their concert when they come to town and buy a t- shirt or two. There are some artists who are so big that they do get a significant portion of the record sales. Metallica, for instance, does have a pretty good contract. The thing you have to consider though, is the fact that their income will remain $1 million per year EVEN IF they never sell another CD. They still get royalties from their logo and they all have very lucrative investments. WHAT SHOULD BE SHARED ON THE NETWORK The general rule here is: anything you want. If you like it, chances are there is someone else who likes it as well. I, personally, will host music that I don't even like (Garth Brooks, for example) (Update From Day 5/Weds Mar 29 2006: Love the music of Garth Brooks now). I do this so that there is a good connection to a quality file if someone wants it. I keep it in a special folder that does not get backed up. I also have the hard drive space to do this. You should do what ever you can to make music more available. Now would be a good time to discuss pornography. It is my opinion that pornography has no place on Gnutella. I think that this network is for music. (See what Sheer thinks now? He thinks maybe you can't tell what a file is to someone else, ever. He thinks, learn that there are many points of view. He thinks, you never know just how you look through other people's eyes. He stole that last line from Butthole Surfers - Pepper, the song) I am also very worried about some of the illegal stuff running around out there (like kiddie porn). If you are a pedophile, please do the world a favor and have yourself neutered. If this type of material keeps floating around out there, then we will have law enforcement sniffing around which is bad for everyone. Believe it or not, the guys in Washington will protect children before they protect money! So if all we are doing is dipping into deep pockets (which we're not) then they will keep their nose out of Gnutella. Sheer has no clue what to do about this basic problem. If you are looking for free pornography, I will let you in on a little secret! Its called USENET. Go out to www.shareware.com or www.download.com and get an application call Free Agent. Hook up to a news server. Your ISP probably has one you can use for free. Look through the list of newsgroups and select those which best fit your particular perversion. If you can't find any good stuff, go to a commercial news server (usually about $10/month for all the porn you can download). To find a commercial news server, run a search on Yahoo for "news servers". Below is a list you can also try www.supernews.com www.completlynews.com www.planetusenet.com www.billynews.com Most of them host between 50,000 and 100,000 uncensored newsgroups with every type of sick crap you can imagine and some you wish you never knew about. Trust me on this I speak from experience. RIPPING CD's The backbone of this whole 3 ring circus in the technology which allows us to take a song off of a CD and turn it into an manageable digital file. To RIP a CD you must first have a CD which presents an interesting problem. If you buy the CD then you are lining the pockets of RIAA which we don't want to do. Here are some suggestions for obtaining CD's without buying them -- DO NOT SHOP LIFT, HIJACK, STICK-UP OR STEAL (RIAA won't loose a dime if you do) -- Borrow CD's -- Buy them from a used record store (RIAA doesn't get a dime and you may be able to sell it back for about 40% when you are done) -- If you borrow CD's loan them out as well The best software for RIPping CD's is, in my opinion, Easy CD-DA Extractor from Jukka Poikolainen Software. Go to www.download.com or www.shareware.com and download the file. Be sure that the file is high quality. It doesn't have to be 320bps. 128bps will generally be good enough for a reproduction onto a CD. If you have the drive space you can jack up the sample rate a little. I prefer 192bps. Since this company and others like it are making RIAA's life miserable, I would suggest that you pay for the full version of this software. It is well worth the money. If we support hardware and software manufactures who make RIPping and sharing easier, we not only slap RIAA in the face but gain a very powerful ally in the war against RIAA. Some say not to RIP the entire CD unless it is good. You decide if it is good or bad and how many songs you want to RIP and share. If you do not have the technical expertise or the equipment to RIP CD's, you can find someone who does that will be more than willing to help you. If you have the technical expertise to RIP files, please teach someone else who does not. Share the knowledge! PROTECT YOURSELF There is a virus floating around Gnutella. It doesn't do much harm, it is just a proof of concept (to prove it could be done). It is pretty easy to spot, it will always be 8192k in size. It is easy to spot too. Run a search for something stupid like "Porcupine quill degradation". Your result will be a file called whatever you typed in for search and it will be 8192k. Don't download it! If you have files in your shared folders that are 8192k, fucking delete them. You need to get a virus protection program. I have seen the latest version of McAffe available on Gnutella go get in NOW. You also need a firewall. You can get one for free (legally) by going to www.shareware.com or www.zdnet.com and run a search for Syshiel Personal Firewall. It is free for personal use. It is easy to use and is a no nonsense security system. ENCOURAGE OTHERS love others too (A update by Sheer on Day 5 - Mar 29, 2006 according to my computer's date counter) Word of mouth is the most effective advertising! If you know someone who still pays full price for CD's, make fun of them. Invite them to your house to show them just how easy it is to get music for free. Host files, like this one on your hard drive. You can also name your music files to encourage others to share. For example: Metallica – Enter Sandman (please share your files).mp3 I host over 1,000 files and every time one is hit, my message is seen. I have my own system for naming files. It doesn't hurt anything to change the name of the files. ABOUT FREE-LOADERS It may be necessary for some people to freeload (download but not upload). People who cannot get or afford broadband access usually cannot get any good out of Guntella. If you have a slow connection, this is something you could do: Download the things you want in the early evening. Then when you go to bed, leave your connection live and share maybe 5 or 10 files that you think others might want. If you are concerned about security (which everyone should be) then go get a personal firewall. The good news is that you can get one for free legally! Go to www.zdnet.com, www.download.com, or www.shareware.com and search for Syshiel Personal Firewall. This is a free application to personal users (business users have to pay for it) and it is a simple to use no nonsense firewall. SHARE THIS FILE AND OTHERS LIKE IT This file does not have a copy write. You will not get into trouble for reproducing or changing it. Everything I have said here protected by the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. Lets RIP their fucking heads off!