You listen to a new song, realize you like it and one word comes to mind: LimeWire.
It’s a very simple process. You get on the internet, type in www.limewire.com and start downloading the song seconds later, free of charge. But as of Oct. 26, the company is under a court order to stop distributing its software. After a four-year battle with the Record Industry Association of America, LimeWire is permanently shut down.
When opening the infamous website, the page is bare except for a brief paragraph on the ongoing lawsuit, which will determine how much the company will be sued for.
The company, founded by former Wall Street trader Mark Gorton, made clear on the current website that unauthorized downloading of copyrighted material is illegal. The site previously used the term “file sharing” to sugar-coat the legality issues, but now “file sharing” has led the RIAA to sue for assisting users in committing musical infringement on a large scale.Though there are numerous alternatives to LimeWire including FrostWire, BeeMP3 and Legalsounds, as well as iTunes, students are now troubled with sites that require monthly fees and payments.
Junior Charlotte Klein said iTunes is too expensive, with songs now costing up to $1.29.
“It’s really annoying that [Limewire] was shut down,” she said. “It used to be an easy way for us to get free music, now we have to pay and not everyone has the money.”
Senior Charlotte Goldman now uses other downloading sites that she characterizes as tedious.
“The only remaining ways to download music involve either paying for it or a multistep download process off Youtube which takes twice as long,” she said.
However, some students understand the situation and realize there are consequences for the website’s actions.
“I do think it’s an inconvenience that LimeWire is shut down because I used to get all my music from it,” said senior Safoora Biglari. “But since its illegal use was so widespread, something obviously needed to be done about it.”
The RIAA said LimeWire has cost the music industry hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. The founders of the site will face members of the New York-based company, Lime Group, who will decide the level of damages done. LimeWire could possibly be sued for up to one billion dollars once the case resumes in January 2011.
